Exercise is Medicine

Meet the individuals, communities, and health systems who are making the vision of EIM come to life!

At the 2017 ACSM Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, representatives from Penn State University presented a poster on their EIM on Campus (EIM-OC) efforts, highlighting their five years of involvement with the initiative, the successes behind their EIM on Campus week, and the process of achieving gold level recognition. The program was originally started by students on campus in 2010 seeking to bring EIM to Penn State. It was later formally adopted by the Department of Kinesiology and their Kinesiology Club in 2012. Five years later, the program is a thriving as an established campus program with their success largely attributable to its large student engagement and strong leadership.

Their poster presentation in Denver discussed research conducted around EIM on Campus Week (October), provided an analysis of their growth over the last five years, described its expansion, and identified future progress. The results of their work yielded positive feedback from both their student community, as well as campus partners. In speaking with Zack Papalia, Penn State’s EIM Program Coordinator, their EIM on Campus week has now become an engrained part of the campus culture. They have expanded their efforts into other activities, such as a mobile EIM program, to reach out beyond the border of their campus. The EIM-OC team has also traveled to other Penn State campus branches throughout Pennsylvania to promote EIM, provide health and fitness assessments, and even do peer mentoring for students who are interested in a career in kinesiology.

During the 2016-17 academic year, Penn State achieved gold level recognition for their EIM-related activities. To achieve gold status, a campus must assess physical activity as a vital sign (PAVS). Penn State achieved this by setting up a referral system through which their campus health services could refer student patients to for physical activity counseling and prescription. From there, the EIM-OC program established physician champions within the health center to support their efforts. Finally, they were successful in establishing the use of the PAVS in their campus health centers. Their next step is to integrate the PAVS as a permanent feature of their electronic medical records. Although most programs seek to first integrate the PAVS in a clinic setting, working backwards still led to the establishment of the vital sign. According to Dr. Melissa Bopp, their EIM-OC advisory, it was important to get the physicians at the health center on board first in order to formally implement the PAVS in their system. Without the physician champions, the PAVS would not be used in the clinic setting. By setting up a referral process prior to establishing the PAVS, they were able to provide evidence that they could successfully link patients to existing resources on campus with a credible reputation.

Penn State’s EIM-OC provides a strong example of a successful EIM-OC program on a large campus and how to integrate physical activity into student health centers. They are now working with the other Penn State campuses to expand the impact of EIM even further. When asked to summarize what has made their program so strong, both Mr. Papalia and Dr. Bopp emphasize the importance of the students. It is the students that are the driving force behind the program and they are the ones that continue to lead the program towards a bright future.

To learn more about Penn State’s EIM on Campus program, please contact Zack Papalia or Melissa Bopp.

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Gold level recognition is the highest level of recognition and signifies the implementation of one or several components of the EIM Solution on the University campus, with the potential of extending into the local community. Community partnerships provide real world experience for students, while providing service to the local community.

Gold level campuses must assess physical activity as a vital sign.

A Gold level campus must also be engaged in at least (1) of the following:

* My campus assesses their patients' physical activity as a vital sign?

Yes No

* My campus is creating collaborations between university health care professionals and exercise professionals to provide physical activity prescriptions?

Yes No

* My campus has non-clinical professionals/departments directing students, faculty, and/or staff to the recreation center for health and fitness counseling?

Yes No

* My campus has a computer-based system to track patient participation in physical activity interventions?

Yes No

Other:

Silver level recognition includes activities related to awareness and promotion, and incorporates education for the university’s students, faculty, staff, and health care professionals, as well as those in the surrounding community, on EIM and its mission on campus. Silver campuses are actively engaged in educating others on the EIM solution for both the treatment and prevention of long-term illness and disease. University students are educated on the aims of EIM in health care, potentially certified as EIM health fitness professionals, and guided on how they can play a role in making physical activity an integral part of health care.

Silver level campuses must be engaged in at least (3) of the following: * My campus hosts classes that teach students the fundamentals of EIM on Campus and their potential role in fulfilling the mission of EIM?

Yes No

* My campus trains students to educate campus community members on EIM and the importance of physical activity as medicine?

Yes No

* My campus works with campus health services so that every health care provider discusses physical activity with every patient or client?

Yes No

Other:

Bronze level recognition is the first step in creating the EIM initiative on Campus. These campuses bring attention to the growing need for physical activity and take action in helping to create a healthier, more active campus environment.

Bronze level campuses create awareness of the importance of exercise and regular physical activity for health and promote exercise to students, faculty, staff and the community through engagement in any of the following activities. Bronze level campuses must engage in at least (3) of the following:

* My campus hosts events that promote physical activity?

Yes No

* My campus markets events that encourage all campus members to discuss physical activity with their health care professional?

Yes No

* My campus has created options for exercise that are easily accessible to the campus community?

Yes No

* My campus has completed a Mayoral, Governor, or University President EIM on Campus Month Proclamation?

Yes No

Other:

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