Community-based practice program in a rural medical school: benefits and challenges

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Public Health
• Health Equity

Background:

• Community-based education is integral to medical curricula, potentially addressing health service inequities.
• The Community-based Practice Program (CBPP) at Gippsland Medical School, Monash University, aims to expose students to community settings and research.
• Key objectives include fostering an interprofessional perspective on social equity, justice, and health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the Community-based Practice Program (CBPP).
• To assess student and community educator perceptions of the program's impact on understanding community health and interprofessional collaboration.

Main Methods:

• Mixed-methods evaluation involving questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews.
• Participants included medical students and community organization representatives (community educators).

Main Results:

• Students reported improved understanding of community services, health determinants, and professional roles.
• Community educators valued the CBPP as a mutual learning platform, providing students with practical experience.
• Identified challenges included research project formulation and adapting educational materials to community contexts.

Conclusions:

• The CBPP demonstrates positive outcomes and potential for success in promoting community-engaged medical education.
• While preliminary, the evaluation suggests the program contributes to students' understanding of social equity in health.
• Further investigation with more extensive data is recommended to fully ascertain the program's impact on its stated objectives.