Abstract
Purpose: Transformation of care teaching is often didactic and conceptual instead of practical and operational. Clinical environments, slow to transform, limit student exposure to key experiences that characterize transformed care. We describe the design and implementation of TEAM Clinic (Teach students, Empower patients, Act collaboratively, Meet health goals) – an early clinical learning experience to address this gap.
Methods: The TEAM Clinic curriculum was based on a review of existing curricula and best practice recommendations for the transformation of care. Three key elements were selected as the focus for a low-volume, high-service clinic: patient centeredness, interprofessional collaboration and team-based care. Learners and medically and socially complex patients were recruited for voluntary participation and completed anonymous surveys about the experience during and afterward.
Results: Nine first-year medical students, two first-year social work students and one pharmacy resident were integrated into the interprofessional team. Students were assigned roles adapted to their level and skill set; deliberate interprofessional pairing was assigned to broaden perspectives on scope and role of team members. Upon completion of this two-semester experience, 11 of the 12 learners returned surveys; all rated the experience as positive (strongly agree or agree) on the Authentic Clinical Interprofessional Experience – Evaluation of Interprofessional Site tool. Patient surveys indicated satisfaction with multiple aspects of the visit.
Conclusion: TEAM Clinic provided a practical example of transformation of care teaching in a not-yet-transformed environment. Logistical barriers included space, schedule and staffing. Facilitators included alignment with the goals of core curricula and faculty. Limitations included that this description of these curricula and this pilot come early in our longitudinal development of TEAM Clinic, constraining our ability to measure behavioral changes around interprofessional education, teamwork or patient centeredness. Next steps would examine the trajectory to these outcomes in the preclinical student group.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-5-2019
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S175413
Funding Information
TEAM Clinic was developed as part of a US Federal Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources Administration-funded Primary Care Training and Enhancement Project (Health Resources and Services Administration-26-042, 07/2016-7/2021; William Elder, PhD, principal investigator).
Dr Melanie Dicks reports grants from US Federal HRSA Grant during the conduct of the study. Dr Keisa Fallin-Bennett reports grants from HRSA (US Health Resources Services Administration) during the conduct of the study. Dr William Elder reports grants from US DHS HRSA during the conduct of the study.
Repository Citation
Castro, Maria Gabriela; Dicks, Melanie; Bennett, Keisa; Hustedde, Carol; Sacks, David; Hunter, Lynn Joyce; and Elder, William, "Teach Students, Empower Patients, Act Collaboratively and Meet Health Goals: An Early Interprofessional Clinical Experience in Transformed Care" (2019). Family and Community Medicine Faculty Publications. 7.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/familymedicine_facpub/7
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Advances in Medical Education and Practice, v. 10, p. 47-53.
© 2019 Castro et al.
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