Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
A pre-clerkship program enhances student-clinical practice as they assist in discharge planning, indicating a new educational approach.
Problem Health Systems Science (HSS) is increasingly recognized as a pillar of medical education. Few medical schools, however, have implemented experiential HSS learning opportunities where pre-clerkship medical students contribute value clinically. Approach The Value-added for Inpatients by Students and Interdisciplinary Teams (VISIT) Consult Service, implemented in January 2024, is an HSS program at the Pritzker School of Medicine (PSOM) where first- and second-year medical students manage psychosocial barriers in discharge planning on Hospital Medicine and Trauma Surgery services at UChicago Medicine. The program was evaluated using post-VISIT student and patient surveys assessing student HSS knowledge and attitudes, student communication skills, and patient experience; psychosocial interventions proposed by students and integrated into care plans were categorized and counted. Outcomes First-year students (89/90) in academic year 2023-2024 completed a VISIT consult between January and May 2024. Second-year students (88/88) the following academic year completed a consult between September and December 2024. All students interviewed a patient and documented an electronic health record note for each consult. The student survey response rate was 81% (81/100). All respondents (81/81) rated VISIT as valuable to their education, with 52% (42/81) rating it as “extremely valuable.” From September to December, 44 patients participated, of whom 91% (40/44) completed surveys. Patients gave students mean ratings of 3.3 or higher on relational and technical communication skills (4-point scale) and a mean rating of 4.7 for their overall experience (5-point scale). The mean number of student-led interventions per consult from January to December was 5.2 (SD 2.5). The most common interventions were setting up insurance-covered transportation to medical appointments, arranging establish-care primary care follow-up appointments, and providing substance cessation resources. Next Steps VISIT demonstrates how we can educate pre-clerkship students in HSS while empowering them to deliver patient care. Next steps include expanding VISIT to pediatric and outpatient settings and clerkship and post-clerkship phases of medical school.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Aldrich et al. (2025) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 10 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: