Speaking the Same Language: Teaching Health Administrators the Language of Care Delivery

Health care providers and health administrators work together to provide quality health care services to patients, yet there are barriers to effective communication and collaboration.  We fielded an innovative experiential learning program that allowed health administrators to work in a clinical environment and measured the effectiveness of our experiential learning model in improving the level of knowledge about medical terminology.  First year MHSA students were invited to participate in the experiential learning experience. They were administered a pre-test (immediately before the first educational module), a post-test (immediately following the last module), and a retention test (3 months after the post-test) that consisted of same questions to access their level of knowledge regarding medical terminology. Paired t-tests were performed to determine the effectiveness and retention of the medical terminology learning model. A reflection exercise was conducted to allow participants to reflect on their qualitative and subjective assessment of their learning experience. The experiment lasted for 2 years and included 48 participants. The mean differences in score between pre-test and post-test were statistically significant in both years, with p-values 8.187e-09 in 2013 and 7.152e-12 in 2014. The mean differences in score between post-test and retention test were also statistically significant in both years, with p-values 0.001822 in 2013 and 0.000517 in 2014. In the reflection exercise, we found that students developed a better sense of the demands placed upon health providers, a higher level of respect for physicians and the complex environment in which they practice, and helped improve confidence about decision-making.