Teaching multimorbidity to medical students.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Clinical Skills
• Patient Management

Background:

• Multimorbidity presents a growing challenge in healthcare.
• Current medical education often uses a single-disease approach, leaving students unprepared for complex patient needs.
• Effective management of patients with multiple conditions requires specialized skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To devise, teach, and evaluate a heuristic for managing multimorbidity in final-year medical students.
• To enhance students' confidence and competence in clinical practice.

Main Methods:

• A 1-hour online workshop using a flipped classroom model was delivered during a family medicine clerkship.
• Students engaged with a podcast followed by facilitated small-group discussions.

Main Results:

• Confidence in managing multimorbidity significantly increased post-intervention (36% to 74.5%).
• The 'collect, cluster, and co-ordinate' heuristic was applied by 32 students in various rotations beyond family medicine.
• Students reported the heuristic was relevant across disciplines like pediatrics, obstetrics, and emergency medicine.

Conclusions:

• Targeted undergraduate medical education on multimorbidity management boosts learner confidence.
• The heuristic proved applicable in diverse clinical settings, demonstrating its broad utility.
• Students suggested earlier introduction of multimorbidity training for better clinical preparation.