Impact of intensive education and interaction with health professionals on patient instructors

The use of patients as instructors in teaching medical students and physicians the musculoskeletal examination has proven to be an effective method of learning. However, the effect on the patient instructors (PIs) of their intensive training and the numerous physical examinations made of them has been unknown. In this study, eight patients with stable rheumatoid arthritis were given the Taylor-Johnson Temperament Assessment (TJTA) when they were recruited as PIs and every six months thereafter for two years. Individual interviews focusing on the changes taking place in the patient instructors' lives were also conducted. Three PIs left the program early in their training. Observed changes in TJTA scores were frequently positive for the five who remained in the study. Interview results indicate positive changes in terms of confidence, competence, and emotional stability. All five PIs have continued in their role as PIs and have also expanded into other responsibilities. It is concluded that the patient instructor program was certainly not harmful to the individual PIs and, in fact, was mostly beneficial to them as well as to physicians and medical students.