Implementing Student Hotspotting into Curriculum
Samuel Merritt University has been a national hub for the Camden Coalition Student Hotspotting program since 2015. During that
time, while student interest is high in participating in the Hotspotting program, volunteer recruitment that represents interprofessional
teams has been difficult to obtain. In 2018, a internal grant was obtained to pilot implementation into one course in the school of
nursing as part of the course IPE assignments. In the fall semester of 2019, Hotspotting became part of the requirements in a
population health course for undergraduate nursing. Twenty four students participating along with MSW students, Pharm D students,
and DPT students in a two semester Hotspotting program. The aim of the project was to improve knowledge and participation in a
National movement to improve care to the most vulnerable populations who are also high utilizers of emergency departments, thus
given the term, Hotspotter. The purpose of the student interactions is to identify and help remove barriers to medical care and medical
compliance. Students in the first semester attend monthly conference calls to practice specific coaching techniques using the COACH
tool designed by the Camden Coalition. During this time the IP teams are assigned to a MSW in a setting that has a high number of
patient hotspotters; ED, Acute Rehab, homeless clinics/mobile vans, and Shelter First organizations. The conclusion of the pilot,
showed students highly motivated to work in this population. They learned new skills with the COACH method and how to improve
on working in IP teams. Lessons learned are, two semesters is too long to maintain this project since the courses are typically only
one semester in length. The difficulty of working with medical partners is often overwhelmingly difficult to obtain clients in a timely
fashion, students schools schedules are very impacted making this type of project difficult to maintain, and recruitment from different
universities to develop an IP team is very difficult. However, the student feedback is that the project should continue but with
adjustments.
