How the Hospital Works: An Interdisciplinary, Systems-Based Practice Medical Student Elective

Although proficient systems-based practice is a foundational skill for physicians, how best to teach it has not been well established. An elective course for fourth-year medical students wherein participants had an immersive experience with multiple interprofessional staff was created and analyzed. The authors hypothesized that participating students and interprofessional staff would show gains in systems-based knowledge and interprofessional communication.

The course was a 2-week elective experience for fourth-year medical students at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA. Participants integrated into a variety of interprofessional, non-physician, and administrative roles within the hospital system. Pre- and post-elective systems-based knowledge and interprofessional communication were assessed. Participating interprofessional staff were also surveyed on their experiences.

From 2019 through 2022, 14 students participated in the elective, all of whom provided data. All participating students showed a quantitative improvement in systems-based knowledge and qualitatively commented on the high value of the elective in furthering their understanding of interdisciplinary care and communication. Of the 22 participating interprofessional staff surveyed, 17 responded (response rate 77%), and data showed high satisfaction with the experience and that having students learn more about their jobs improved their own job satisfaction.

An immersive, hands-on experience with interprofessional colleagues showed dual benefits for both students and staff alike. Such an elective experience is scalable to other institutions nationally and should become a standard part of medical student curricula.