Presenters
- Elizabeth Painter, PsyD, MSCP, Clinical Instructor, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Associate Director of Psychology for the Center of Outpatient Education at the VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System, Cleveland, OH
- Timica Campbell, MD, MPH, COE Curriculum Director for the Center of Outpatient Education at the VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System, OH
Summary
Within the US, many health care providers do not understand the full extent or nature of health disparities. Current literature outlines the need for further education on social determinants of health (SDH), but there is little evidence on how to approach this within an interprofessional setting. The Center of Outpatient Education (COE), an interprofessional program (IP) for Physician, Nurse Practitioner, Nursing, Psychology, Pharmacy, and Social Work trainees, is implementing and testing innovative approaches for interprofessional education through a team-based model. Within the COE, a novel SDH curriculum, including didactic sessions and hands-on learning activities, is being developed by an IP faculty. Conducted sessions focus on topics such as Social Justice, the US Healthcare System, Climate Change, and Community Infrastructure. Concurrently, additional modules are being developed for future learning blocks.
In light of the challenges of Covid-19, COE has had to adapt to newer methods in the delivery of education. The lectures and community mapping activity were altered for delivery via a virtual format. Not only did the learners have to adapt to a new method, but so did the faculty. The success of the sessions on a virtual platform shows that the SDH IP curriculum has the ability to be delivered to an even wider IP audience.
Teaching SDH to an interprofessional group of learners is an educational innovation that shows the adaptability of IP education. The challenge with curriculum development in this setting is to deliver relevant knowledge that interests learners and improves patient care. As such, we focused on content that would be relevant on both a local and national scale. Another unique challenge was also to deliver content in a team-based approach that allows learners to learn at the highest scope of their respective practices and prepare them to be effective interprofessional leaders providing high-value care.
Objectives
- Define social determinants of health and explain how those factors affect health utilization and outcomes.
- Describe an innovative curriculum focused on recognizing personal bias, understanding how societal and cultural factors affect interactions with the healthcare system, recognizing gaps in care, and addressing patients’ needs.
- Explore the efficacy of using an online platform to deliver content in an interactive interprofessional curriculum.
Your inclusion of the history of the US health system in understanding racial disparity and bias is very apt. I’m curious how you managed the wide array of learners’ experiences, everyone from physicians to social work students to bachelor’s level nursing students.