Stimulating Medical Student Professional Identity Formation Through Mentored Longitudinal Partnerships With Patient...

Longitudinal patient relationships can positively affect medical students' professional identity formation (PIF), understanding of illness, and socialization within medical practice, but a longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC) model is not always feasible. The authors describe the novel Patient Student Partnership (PSP) program, which provides authentic roles for students in mentored longitudinal patient relationships while maintaining a traditional block clerkship model.

The PSP program at the University of Virginia School of Medicine pairs all matriculating medical students with a patient living with chronic illness to follow across multiple health care settings until graduation. The 4-year required program is rooted in the conceptual frameworks of PIF, experiential learning, and communities of practice. This program evaluation used survey data collected from the first full cohort of students (Class of 2022) at 5 timepoints during the initial 4 years of implementation (2018-2022).

At graduation, 152 students had completed the PSP program. Students' narrative responses on surveys indicated PSP participation helped them connect classroom learning to clinical practice, play meaningful roles in patient care, practice communication skills via electronic health records, and practice self-reflection about their future roles as physicians. On the survey administered as students approached graduation, 54/67 (80.6%) of responding students agreed or strongly agreed that the PSP program allowed them to observe the general trajectory of a patient's chronic illness and its impact on daily life.

This initial evaluation demonstrates the feasibility of integrating a mentored longitudinal experience into an existing block curriculum. Future study of PIF development occurring during PSP activities is needed to explore whether the PSP program stimulates PIF in ways similar to LICs. Additionally, the authors plan to address variability in engagement between medical students and their patient teachers through further student and faculty development regarding role clarification.