Neighbourhood walking tours for physicians-in-training

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Public Health
• Community Medicine

Background:

• Social and economic factors significantly influence patient health outcomes.
• Residency training has inconsistently integrated education on social and economic factors affecting health.
• Neighbourhood walking tours offer a potential method for teaching physician-residents about social determinants of health (SDoH).

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a neighbourhood walking tour on physician-residents' perceptions of SDoH.
• To evaluate changes in physician-residents' plans for patient counselling.
• To measure physician-residents' knowledge of community resources post-tour.

Main Methods:

• A community-based participatory research approach was used to implement a neighbourhood walking tour curriculum in 2017.
• Physician-residents from various specialties participated in pre- and post-tour surveys.
• Surveys assessed participants' ranking of health factors, strategies for health behavior improvement, and knowledge of community resources.

Main Results:

• Post-tour, 'income' and 'transportation' were ranked higher as health factors compared to pre-tour 'access to primary care'.
• The proportion of participants discussing neighbourhood-level strategies for health behavior improvement increased significantly (16% to 37%).
• Awareness of community resources surged from 5% to 76% (p<0.001).

Conclusions:

• Neighbourhood walking tours enhance physician-residents' recognition of SDoH importance.
• These tours effectively increase awareness and utilization of community resources.
• The intervention shows potential for broadening physician-residents' approaches to patient counselling on healthy lifestyles.