The circumstances in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age affect a wide range of health outcomes. Specifically, these social determinants of health (SDOH) include economic stability, education, food, neighborhood & physical environment, and community & social context. SDOH and related health behaviors account for 80 percent of modifiable contributors to health outcomes.
Unfortunately, most health systems are not equipped with the staffing and infrastructure needed to meet their patients’ social needs. Student navigators, eager for meaningful clinical experiences, are an untapped resource that health systems can leverage to improve integrated patient care.
Duke University’s Help Desk is a student initiative that partners with health care organizations to address their patients’ unmet social needs. We train community resource navigators to help patients connect to community resources.
Aims
Duke University’s Help Desk aims to:
- Educate students about the social determinants of health
- Train a workforce of community resource navigators who help patients connect to resources for their social needs
- Create and share toolkits and training materials that other healthcare organizations and partners can use to replicate the Help Desk model
