Engaging medical, nursing, and social work students in a team-based response to social needs

Teams of medical, nursing, and social work students, supervised by social workers, helped their Philadelphia community and deepened their understanding of social needs by working with patients to access resources. To address Covid-19 pandemic–exacerbated socioeconomic inequities, such as unemployment and food insecurity, in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, community and to provide clinical educational experiences for health care workforce students, the University of Pennsylvania Health System developed, implemented, evaluated, and iteratively refined the Social Needs Response Team, a virtual call center. The team reached a total of 1,727 patients from April 2020 to September 2022. Food assistance (32%), housing (17.4%), and employment (12.7%) were among the identified social needs. A majority of participants (51%) were referred to a community-based organization and/or primary clinics for coordination of care. Interprofessional student-supported virtual programs designed to meet the immediate social needs of at-risk populations can effectively contact, screen, and refer patients to appropriate resources while providing valuable educational experiences for participants.