Teaching About Partnerships Between Patients and the Team: Exploring Student Perceptions.

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Interprofessional Healthcare
• Patient-Centered Care

Background:

• Healthcare education is evolving to integrate patients as active partners in interprofessional care.
• Developing student competencies in patient-team partnerships is an emerging area in health professions education.
• The impact of patient partner involvement on student learning requires further exploration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore and characterize the learning experiences of first-year health professions students engaged with patient partners.
• To identify key themes emerging from student reflections on patient-team collaboration.
• To inform the integration of patient partners into health professional and interprofessional curricula.

Main Methods:

• First-year students from nine programs interacted with patient partners and participated in a Reader's Theater activity.
• Students completed reflective assignments following the educational intervention.
• Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyze student learning from the reflective assignments.

Main Results:

• Four overarching themes emerged: developing insights through patient perspective, promoting partnerships with patients, recognizing attitudes that foster therapeutic relationships, and advocating for the patient as a team member.
• Subthemes provided further detail on student learning related to collaboration and patient advocacy.
• Students recognized the impact of poor collaboration and the value of advocating for patient partnership.

Conclusions:

• Engaging patient partners in health professions education significantly enhances student understanding of patient perspectives and collaborative care.
• The findings support the integration of patient partners to cultivate essential competencies for effective interprofessional practice.
• Educator engagement with patient partners can enrich curricula and foster a stronger appreciation for patient advocacy.