Innovative Approach for Teaching Physician Assistant Students About Social Determinants of Health and Empowering...

Social determinants, the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, play a crucial role in the health of individuals. The University of South Dakota Physician Assistant Studies Program uses a multimodal approach to teaching social determinants of health (SDOH) to students. The SDOH learning session consists of assigned presession reading, a didactic presentation introducing SDOH and their impact, and a table-top activity that simulates how SDOH affect individuals. During the table-top activity a list of community resources is available to help students locate services for the game characters when other resources have been depleted. Prior to entering clinical rotations, students will briefly review SDOH identification and connection to services during a training session for patient encounter logging. A check for implementation of learning will occur during the clinical phase by reviewing students' patient encounter logs for the presence of SDOH-related diagnoses and CPT codes. Although screening to identify SDOH and assisting patients through connecting them to services is not standard in all healthcare systems, PA students with the knowledge and tools can be prepared to provide this component of care to their patients.