Building Provider-Caregiver Partnerships: Curricula for Medical Students and Residents

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Interprofessional Education
• Caregiver Support

Background:

• A significant disconnect exists between healthcare providers and family caregivers, leading to communication fragmentation, increased caregiver stress, and compromised patient care.
• Healthcare providers often lack adequate training on issues critical to caregivers, despite their responsibility to recognize caregiver burden.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and pilot educational curricula aimed at fostering effective partnerships between healthcare providers and caregivers.
• To enhance medical students' and residents' understanding of caregiver needs and improve their communication and partnership-building skills.

Main Methods:

• Development of curricula, including a short film, discussion guides, case-based learning, simulations, and clinical cases, as part of the Building Caregiver Partnerships Through Interprofessional Education project.
• Exposure of medical students and residents to diverse caregiving narratives through piloted educational tools.

Main Results:

• Medical students found the tools valuable for broadening their understanding of caregiver needs.
• Residents reported improved communication and partnership-building skills with caregivers after using the educational tools.
• Undergraduate and graduate faculty also found the piloted educational tools to be valuable.

Conclusions:

• The piloted educational tools show promise in enhancing healthcare provider education regarding caregiver needs and improving interprofessional communication.
• Future work will focus on outcome evaluation, including clinical outcomes and caregiver involvement, and expanding the project to other health professions programs.