Medical students meet patients with disability for the first time: Working to build a better doctor–patient partnership

The relationship between a health service provider and a patient has shifted from limited interaction within an examination room focusing on “cure” to long-lasting partnership focusing on prevention and management of illness within the context of patient's daily life. Lack of awareness about difficulties persons with disability are facing in their daily life and improper communication styles (e.g., speaking to a patient's attendant/interpreter rather than the patient, not using people first language) of some health service providers are noted as barriers in developing such relationships by persons with disability. In attempting to reduce these barriers, the Illinois Disability and Health Program collaborated with two medical schools to create opportunities for new medical students to participate in innovative hands-on workshops with persons with disabilities. Persons with disability were recruited from local Centers for Independent Living, community-based advocacy organizations, to serve as a “patient” in one of the required clinical education workshops for the first year medical students in each of the two medical schools. In the workshop, each student, learning about the patient encounter, performed a clinical interview with the “patient.” After the interview, the “patient” provided feedback to each student regarding his/her interview skills. Further, the “patient” was encouraged to share his/her own life experiences which may help students to grasp the full range of unique needs the “patient” has. In this presentation, we focus on the developmental process of the project, and the patient-student encounter in the context of the medical school curriculum.