Inclusion in Medical Education: Integrating the Disability Perspective

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Disability Studies
• Public Health

Background:

• Medical training curricula have significant gaps in disability education.
• Physicians often experience misconceptions and discomfort when caring for patients with disabilities.
• This deficiency impacts the quality of care and health equity for individuals with disabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate an elective course aimed at enhancing medical students' disability cultural competency and advocacy skills.
• To address the identified needs and gaps in medical school disability education.
• To empower future physicians to provide equitable care for patients with disabilities.

Main Methods:

• A targeted needs assessment, including curriculum mapping and interviews with community members with disabilities, informed course development.
• An elective course, "Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI)-Minded for Disability," was designed with five sessions.
• Pre- and post-course self-assessments using a Likert scale and free-response questions evaluated student learning and confidence.

Main Results:

• All eleven participants reported improved self-assessed confidence in all post-course assessment items.
• Students demonstrated an increased understanding of barriers to care and health disparities affecting people with disabilities.
• Participants gained knowledge on effective advocacy strategies for future patients with disabilities.

Conclusions:

• The inclusion of community members with disabilities in course development ensured content relevance and highlighted lived expertise.
• This elective course successfully increased medical students' knowledge of disability and associated health disparities.
• The program empowered students to become effective advocates for people with disabilities, promoting health equity.