What do medical students learn when they follow patients from hospital to community? A longitudinal qualitative study

Context: Although longitudinal community-based care of patients provides opportunities for teaching patient centredness and chronic disease management, there is a paucity of literature assessing learning outcomes of these clerkships. This study examines learning outcomes among students participating...

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Main Authors: Rukshini Puvanendran, Farhad Fakhrudin Vasanwala, Robert K. Kamei, Lee Kheng Hock, Desiree A. Lie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2012-07-01
Series:Medical Education Online
Subjects:
Online Access:http://med-ed-online.net/index.php/meo/article/view/18899/pdf_1
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author Rukshini Puvanendran
Farhad Fakhrudin Vasanwala
Robert K. Kamei
Lee Kheng Hock
Desiree A. Lie
author_facet Rukshini Puvanendran
Farhad Fakhrudin Vasanwala
Robert K. Kamei
Lee Kheng Hock
Desiree A. Lie
author_sort Rukshini Puvanendran
collection DOAJ
description Context: Although longitudinal community-based care of patients provides opportunities for teaching patient centredness and chronic disease management, there is a paucity of literature assessing learning outcomes of these clerkships. This study examines learning outcomes among students participating in longitudinal community based follow-up of patients discharged from the hospital. Methods: The authors conducted a thematic analysis of 253 student narratives written by 44 third-year medical students reflecting on their longitudinal interactions with patients with chronic medical illnesses. The narratives were written over three periods: after acute hospital encounter, after a home visit and at the end of the 10-month follow-up. Analysis involved coding of theme content and counting of aggregate themes. Results: The most frequent theme was ‘chronic disease management’ (25%) followed by ‘patient-centred care’ (22%), ‘health care systems’ (20.9%), ‘biomedical issues’ (19.7%), ‘community services’ (9.5%) and ‘student's role conflict’ (2.3%). There was a shift in the relative frequency of the different themes, as students moved from hospital to community with their patients. Biomedical (44.3%) and health systems (18.2%) were the dominant themes following the acute hospitalization encounter. Chronic disease management (35.1%) and patient centredness (31.8%) were the dominant themes after the 10-month longitudinal follow-up. Conclusion: Longitudinal community-based interaction with patients resulted in learning about chronic disease management, patient centredness and health care systems over time. Students shifted from learning biomedical knowledge during the acute hospitalization, to focus on better understanding of long-term care and patient centredness, at the end of the module.
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spelling doaj.art-53b970013b314dc48dcb114dbc3285d82022-12-21T17:17:51ZengTaylor & Francis GroupMedical Education Online1087-29812012-07-011701810.3402/meo.v17i0.18899What do medical students learn when they follow patients from hospital to community? A longitudinal qualitative studyRukshini PuvanendranFarhad Fakhrudin VasanwalaRobert K. KameiLee Kheng HockDesiree A. LieContext: Although longitudinal community-based care of patients provides opportunities for teaching patient centredness and chronic disease management, there is a paucity of literature assessing learning outcomes of these clerkships. This study examines learning outcomes among students participating in longitudinal community based follow-up of patients discharged from the hospital. Methods: The authors conducted a thematic analysis of 253 student narratives written by 44 third-year medical students reflecting on their longitudinal interactions with patients with chronic medical illnesses. The narratives were written over three periods: after acute hospital encounter, after a home visit and at the end of the 10-month follow-up. Analysis involved coding of theme content and counting of aggregate themes. Results: The most frequent theme was ‘chronic disease management’ (25%) followed by ‘patient-centred care’ (22%), ‘health care systems’ (20.9%), ‘biomedical issues’ (19.7%), ‘community services’ (9.5%) and ‘student's role conflict’ (2.3%). There was a shift in the relative frequency of the different themes, as students moved from hospital to community with their patients. Biomedical (44.3%) and health systems (18.2%) were the dominant themes following the acute hospitalization encounter. Chronic disease management (35.1%) and patient centredness (31.8%) were the dominant themes after the 10-month longitudinal follow-up. Conclusion: Longitudinal community-based interaction with patients resulted in learning about chronic disease management, patient centredness and health care systems over time. Students shifted from learning biomedical knowledge during the acute hospitalization, to focus on better understanding of long-term care and patient centredness, at the end of the module.http://med-ed-online.net/index.php/meo/article/view/18899/pdf_1longitudinal community-based clerkshipchronic disease managementpatient-centred caremedical student learning
spellingShingle Rukshini Puvanendran
Farhad Fakhrudin Vasanwala
Robert K. Kamei
Lee Kheng Hock
Desiree A. Lie
What do medical students learn when they follow patients from hospital to community? A longitudinal qualitative study
Medical Education Online
longitudinal community-based clerkship
chronic disease management
patient-centred care
medical student learning
title What do medical students learn when they follow patients from hospital to community? A longitudinal qualitative study
title_full What do medical students learn when they follow patients from hospital to community? A longitudinal qualitative study
title_fullStr What do medical students learn when they follow patients from hospital to community? A longitudinal qualitative study
title_full_unstemmed What do medical students learn when they follow patients from hospital to community? A longitudinal qualitative study
title_short What do medical students learn when they follow patients from hospital to community? A longitudinal qualitative study
title_sort what do medical students learn when they follow patients from hospital to community a longitudinal qualitative study
topic longitudinal community-based clerkship
chronic disease management
patient-centred care
medical student learning
url http://med-ed-online.net/index.php/meo/article/view/18899/pdf_1
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