A Novel Medical Student Assistant Accommodation Model for a Medical Student With a Disability During a Required Clinical Clerkship

Abstract

BackgroundAs efforts continue to diversify the physician workforce so that it better matches the patient population, the number of medical students with disabilities will increase. U.S. medical schools and emergency medicine (EM) clerkships should be prepared to provide full and meaningful access to learners with disabilities.MethodsWe created a novel means of providing access to a senior medical student with a mobility disability (secondary to a cervical spinal cord injury) to participate in a fourth‐year EM clerkship. We hired four second‐year medical students as intermediaries to perform senior medical student–directed physical examination maneuvers, during his 15 required 8‐hour emergency department shifts. The senior medical student dictated his documentation using Dragon Natural Speaking (Nuance Communications, 2015) voice recognition software.ResultsThe senior medical student successfully completed the required clinical clerkship and earned a honors grade for his work. Both the senior medical student and the second‐year medical student intermediaries gave positive feedback about the experience.ConclusionsGiven the significant prevalence of disability among medical students in U.S. medical schools, medical educators should provide greater access to students with disabilities and opportunities for advanced education for all learners by creating innovative clinical curriculum. The authors recommend the student intermediary model for senior medical students with physical disabilities in required clinical clerkships.

Effective bedside teaching as a foundation doctor

“…Other students may require more extensive, creative solutions, as highlighted by Jauregui et al in a novel student clerkship assistantship model. 3…”

Making emergency medicine accessible for all: The what, why, and how of providing accommodations for learners and physicians with disabilities

“…For example, websites should comply with standards for color contrast for visually disabled applicants and forward‐facing materials should contain multiple methods for establishing contact with the programs (e.g., phone, text, email). Other potential resources for programs are case studies that have been published on providing successful accommodations for students in the ED 40,41 . These real‐world examples could serve as a starting point for enacting accommodations for students and residents in the future and may also help to demonstrate a program’s commitment to equity and inclusion.…”

“…Other potential resources for programs are case studies that have been published on providing successful accommodations for students in the ED. 40,41 These real-world examples could serve as a starting point for enacting accommodations for students and residents in the future and may also help to demonstrate a program's commitment to equity and inclusion.…”

Legibility: knowing disability in medical education inclusion

“…Yet, their research did not theorize how the interactive process currently operates. Several case studies have documented successful, complex accommodation delivery in clinical settings (Jauregui et al, 2020 ; Meeks et al, 2015 , 2018 ). These studies demonstrate how accommodations were made, showing aspects of the interactive process to implement accommodations.…”