Homelessness in health education: a training template for the health professions

Project HOPE – Homelessness in Osteopathic Pre-doctoral Education—began in Nova Southeastern University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine as a primary care initiative in 2010 funded through a HRSA training award. This initiative was created due to a lack of formal training for medical students relevant to the needs of those experiencing homelessness and fails to encourage graduates from the health professions to serve homeless populations with which they may feel discomfort or inability to provide competent care. Now in its final year, the project is poised to provide data on student attitudes, techniques for assessing housing at intake, and a template curriculum that could be implemented within any health professions training program. This session will provide an overview of the project findings and will provide a template for educators and administrators on how to implement a training program in homeless health care education that can be implemented within existing programs.