(Name-mce) ListServ Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN)

[Villanueva Anselmo]

Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN)

Information: http://www.migrantclinician.org/

MCN Office Locations

MCN Main Office

Migrant Clinicians Network
P.O. Box 164285
Austin, TX 78716

(512) 327-2017 phone 
(512) 327-0719 fax

Satellite Locations

California Office
1309 Orchard Way
Chico, CA 95928
(530) 345-4806

Houston, Texas Office 
12602 Ashford Chase Dr. 
Houston, TX 77082-2241
(281) 496-7522 

Maryland Office
5210 River Circle
Quantico, MD 21856
(410) 860-9850

South Carolina Office 
3 Court Street 
Charleston, SC 29403
(843) 724-3454 

Pennsylvania Office
878 North Allen
State College, PA 16803
(814) 238-6566

Office of Border Health
P.O. Box 9428
El Paso, TX 79995

 

MCN is a national, not-for-profit organization founded in 1984 by
clinicians working in migrant health. With nearly 2,000 members, the
organization is the oldest and second largest clinical network serving
the underserved. MCN's goal is to improve health care of migrants and
other mobile poor populations by providing support, technical
assistance, and professional development services to clinicians. 

While MCN provides services to any individual interested in migrant
health, the organization's primary constituents are clinicians working
in federally funded migrant and community health centers (MCHC) and in
state, regional, and local health departments. 

MCN empowers clinicians and communities to strengthen clinical care and
health care infrastructure for migrants and other mobile poor
populations. Technical assistance provided through MCN affords many of
the key elements needed to foster knowledge, creative solutions and
improved care. Clinically relevant information is disseminated via a
number of sources including MCN's bi-monthly clinical publication
Streamline, topic-specific monographs, workshops at conferences and
on-site at clinics and health departments, via MCN's website, and
through our partners. 

MCN relies on an extensive assortment of partners to provide the highest
quality technical assistance. Among MCN's most important partners are
the MCHCs as well as state and local health departments nationwide. MCN
maintains an active partnership with Migrant Education and Migrant Head
Start. Additionally, MCN has a number of collaborative relationships
with other organizations and institutions including universities,
unions, national clinical organizations such as the American Academy of
Pediatrics, and other not-for-profits. 

Central to MCN's work is a wide array of educational offerings for
clinicians to increase clinical skills, introduce new concepts and
research, and to further cultural competency. All offerings have four
very important elements in common: on-going evaluation to assure
quality; clinical scholarships to increase access; continuing education
units for all provider groups; and high quality curricula and faculty. 

In addition to working with clinicians, MCN supplies expert technical
assistance to migrant communities to foster positive health care change.
Working with community health aides, MCN staff has developed a number of
popular health educational materials and strategies to improve health
for migrants. 

MCN recognizes the role of cultural factors in determining wellness,
illness, adherence, and health status improvement. While clinicians are
trained in many skill sets, most have not received formal education in
the area that may profoundly impact their success in all other areas:
cultural competency. Accordingly, MCN has developed a expert set of
resources and trainings in cultural competency geared for clinical
practice. 

Clinicians have a licensing requirement to obtain continuing education
in proscribed amounts and intervals. MCN is an accredited provider of
Continuing Nursing Education credits (CNE) and Continuing Health
Educational credits (CHES). MCN works with American Academy of Family
Physicians to provide Continuing Medical Education credits. 

In addition to training and technical assistance, MCN runs a very
successful Health Network Program designed to address a key issue in
migrant health care: continuity of care. The MCN Health Network projects
facilitate continuity of care by transferring medical records between
clinics. Health Network projects also provide education and care
coordination through phone contacts and mailings to the participants
enrolled. 

MCN began to work to develop systems of binational tracking in 1993. In
an effort to coordinate information exchange and develop linkages
between the health services system of Mexico and Migrant Health Centers,
MCN joined forces with the Texas Department of Health, the Pan-American
Health Organization, the Ministry of Health of Mexico, and the El Paso
County JUNTOS TB Project to develop TBNet for tuberculosis tracking.

Beginning with TBNet, MCN found that integration and standardization of
data exchange materials and one central information point is critical to
the broad use of any tracking system. Additionally, it was critical to
promote the project among migrant providers at every opportunity and
assist providers attempting to utilize the service to prevent
frustration and insure that providers continue to participate in the
tracking project. The Health Network projects have a proven track record
of success in providing continuity of care to mobile populations.