Introduction to Disability and Health for Preclinical Medical Students: Didactic and Disability Panel Discussion

Abstract

Introduction Millions of American patients have a disability, and their health care outcomes depend on the attitudes of their health care providers towards persons with disabilities. Overly negative health care provider attitudes lead to significant misunderstandings about what it means to have a disability, inappropriate assumptions, and poor care. However, very few medical schools teach about disability. Methods We developed a preclinical medical student curriculum that addresses the complexity of disability, focusing on health care disparities and bias. Our curriculum was designed with significant input from people with disabilities and was constructed from their perspective. In addition to didactic and discussion sessions on disability history, models of disability, and health disparities, we include a discussion panel with community members who have a disability. Results The curriculum has been effective at promoting discussion and is well received by students. When rating the relevance to future clinical practice, students gave the curriculum an average of 3.9 on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = poor , 5 = excellent ). The majority of students commented that the community involvement in the session was the most meaningful aspect. Discussion It is possible to integrate community-driven discussions on the social context of disability into traditional medical school preclinical curricula, and students find it valuable to their education.

Working With People With Disabilities: An Interactive Video/Lecture Session for First- and Second-Year Medical Students

“…In particular, students would like further instruction on how to bring up the topic of disability with their patients when medically relevant. These findings echo those from the Rogers et al 8 session, which suggested that previous experience and training in working with individuals with disabilities are associated with better provider attitudes. 13 Further work should seek to equip students with effective tools as they move into clinical settings, as well as to reassess student comfort levels in those settings.…”

“…[10][11][12] Among these, "Introduction to Disability and Health for Preclinical Medical Students: Didactic and Disability Panel Discussion" by Rogers et al is a stand-alone disability session available in MedEdPORTAL that explores disability within a sociocultural context and harnesses shared student reflection so that students can understand and develop their own attitudes. 8 A systematic review of health care providers' attitudes toward people with disabilities conducted in 2012 concluded that attitudes were generally favorable, but that that some students and health care providers experienced "discomfort or anxiety when challenged with the responsibility of treating a person with physical disabilities." 13 These findings raise the question of whether low comfort level and limited familiarity with disability-more so than overt undervaluation of individuals with disability-may frequently underlie suboptimal care.…”

Cultural Competency Interventions During Medical School: a Scoping Review and Narrative Synthesis

“…Ten articles were identified that addressed interventions related to disabilities, a physical or mental impairment that limits the patient's daily activities. [127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136] Only one of the articles described a longitudinal intervention with three of the ten describing 1-hto 3-h-long programs. The articles emphasized the importance of experience interacting with people with disabilities and developing a greater understanding of the problems they face when accessing healthcare.…”

What Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Patients Say Doctors Should Know and Do: A Qualitative Study

“…For example, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine gathered the perspectives and suggestions of local aboriginal communities to inform curriculum interventions (Strasser & Marsh, 2014). Other medical schools have used patient narratives to inform specific curricular content (Rogers, Morris, Hook, & Havyer, 2016; Foster, Robb, Cordar, Chaudhary, Noseworthy, & Lok, 2015; DeFries, Rodrigues, Ghorob, & Handley, 2015), but we could not find other examples of medical schools formally soliciting the input of community members regarding curricular objectives.…”