An Interprofessional Approach to Teaching Advocacy Skills: Lessons from an Academic Medical-Legal Partnership

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Public Health Policy
• Health Equity Advocacy

Background:

• Advocacy training is crucial for future health leaders to address health disparities.
• Formal programs for policy-level advocacy skills are limited, especially interprofessional ones.
• Existing training often lacks input from legal and policy experts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of adding an interprofessional education (IPE) component to a legislative advocacy training program for medical students.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of engaging law faculty and students in medical advocacy training.
• To determine if interprofessional collaboration enhances advocacy knowledge and skills.

Main Methods:

• A 2016-2017 pilot study involving preclinical medical students.
• Development of a legislative advocacy training program focused on health justice issues.
• Inclusion of law faculty and students to provide expertise on the federal legislative process.

Main Results:

• The interprofessional advocacy training program improved medical students' advocacy knowledge.
• Participants demonstrated enhanced advocacy skills after the training.
• The program positively influenced medical students' professional identity as advocates.

Conclusions:

• Integrating law and policy experts into advocacy training can significantly benefit medical students.
• Interprofessional education is a valuable strategy for developing essential advocacy competencies in future healthcare professionals.
• This pilot study suggests a scalable model for enhancing health advocacy training.