ADEPT-CARE: A pilot, student-led initiative to improve care for persons with disabilities via a novel teaching tool

Smeltz, Lydia; Carpenter, Sandra; Benedetto, Lauren E.; Newcomb, Nora; Rubenstein, Dana; King, Tonya S.; Lunsford, Christopher; DeWaters, Ami L.

doi:10.1016/j.dhjo.2023.101462

Cited by 4 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Then, we performed a targeted needs assessment in our local institution by examining the existing health systems science syllabus and identifying opportunities to integrate disability education into the course. Full elective implementation into the health systems science course is described elsewhere 10 . Notably, we aimed to supplement or build upon existing curricular topics rather than add separate, disjointed disability topics.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction to Disability and Antiableist Health Care

Smeltz,

Carpenter,

Benedetto

et al. 2024

Am J Phys Med Rehabil

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Physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians often care for disabled patients, who comprise America’s largest marginalized population. Despite medical students’ and physicians’ discomfort with caring for disabled patients and the pervasiveness of ableism in healthcare, medical education lacks disability-focused education. Kern’s approach to curriculum development and disability community input were used to design a three-part, elective curriculum for first-year medical students. Part one introduced disability models and language. Part two described how to perform a comprehensive history and physical exam for a disabled patient utilizing ADEPT-CARE. Part 3 provided an overview of disability history and the disability rights movement. The curriculum’s goal was to improve students’ attitudes regarding disability health and self-perceived knowledge and confidence in caring for patients with disabilities. The curriculum was evaluated through pre- and post-surveys. Students favorably reviewed the curriculum. 100% of students (n = 21) agreed or strongly agreed that the curriculum improved their knowledge of disability health, increased their perceived confidence in caring for patients with disabilities, and enhanced their medical education. There were no statistically significant differences in students’ attitudes towards patients with disabilities after curriculum completion. Our asynchronous module provides one potential curriculum for increasing pre-clinical medical students’ self-perceived knowledge of disability health.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction to Disability and Antiableist Health Care

Smeltz,

Carpenter,

Benedetto

et al. 2024

Am J Phys Med Rehabil

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“…The curriculum included a 15-minute general introductory video which included disability types, identities, language, definitions, and models of disability (Part 1); a 15minute video presenting ADEPT-CARE, a 9-step mnemonic intended to teach students how to perform a comprehensive history and physical examination (Part 2); and viewing a firstperson documentary about disability and completing a reflective essay (Part 3). [8][9][10] The curricular goal was to teach PA students how to appropriately talk about and to patients with disabilities (Part 1), develop a mental model for completing a history and physical examination for patients with disabilities (Part 2), and understand the historical context and treatment of people with disabilities in the United States (Part 3). The ADEPT-CARE protocol itself specifically focuses on teaching trainees and clinicians to engage directly with the patient with disability, to ask about and consider both any access needs or accommodations a patient may have and disability-related health conditions, and to defer to their expertise about their own condition.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The full ADEPT-CARE tool has been previously published and includes recommendations regarding history questions and physical examination techniques. 8 Importantly, the curriculum was purposefully broad and inclusive of a range of disability identities and other marginalized identities to foster student's disability consciousness and disability humility, thus allowing students to begin developing a flexible framework to approach patients with a wide range of disabilities. 8,11 The ADEPT-CARE video and complete curricular learning objectives are available in prior publications.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…8 Importantly, the curriculum was purposefully broad and inclusive of a range of disability identities and other marginalized identities to foster student's disability consciousness and disability humility, thus allowing students to begin developing a flexible framework to approach patients with a wide range of disabilities. 8,11 The ADEPT-CARE video and complete curricular learning objectives are available in prior publications. 8,9 All first-year PA students were required to take this course in their first semester and received an email invitation to voluntarily complete a pre and post-survey, 3 days before and after the curriculum implementation, respectively.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We previously created and implemented a 3-part elective disability health curriculum among first-year medical students at our institution that demonstrated efficacy. 8,9 This curriculum was designed in collaboration with both healthcare professionals and trainees who identify as disabled, and additionally, feedback was obtained from patients with disabilities. Overall, the 3-part curriculum sought to provide a broad overview of disability and disability types, which has the potential to address the aforementioned unmet need in PA education.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Teaching Future Physician Assistants to Provide ADEPT-CARE to Disabled Patients: A Novel Application of Disability Curriculum

Smeltz,

Whitney,

King

et al. 2024

J Physician Assist Educ

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Introduction Physician assistant (PA) students will be certain to provide care to patients with disabilities in their future careers. However, there is a dearth of literature on disability-related education in PA training. This curriculum sought to fill this need. The specific aims of this study were to (1) evaluate the implementation of a 3-part disability-focused education curriculum in PA education, (2) assess changes in PA students' self-perceived confidence and attitudes toward patients with disabilities, and (3) assess students' attitudes toward ADEPT-CARE. Methods A 3-part disability curriculum was implemented into the first-year PA curriculum at a single Mid-Atlantic institution. Students could voluntarily complete pre and post-surveys which assessed their self-perceived confidence and attitudes toward people with disabilities, perception of the curriculum, and attitudes toward ADEPT-CARE and disability health. Results Thirty students participated in the study, with a 100% survey response rate. Nearly all participants agreed or strongly agreed that this curriculum enhanced their medical education (n = 28, 96.6%, frequency missing n = 1). After curriculum completion, there was a statistically significant improvement in participants' confidence in their ability to assess patients with disability (46.7%–93.3%, P < 0.001), ability to provide the same quality of care to patients with disability as those without disability (80.0%–96.7%, P = 0.025), and perception of quality of life of persons with disabilities (P = 0.030). Discussion This curriculum was well received by PA students and improved their attitudes toward patients with disabilities, thereby fulfilling a critical need for PA educators.

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