Teaching Students About Disabilities and Teamwork: Interprofessional Education

Lynne Tomasa PhD, Leslie Cohen JD, Jim Kerwin MD, Cathleen Michaels PhD RN, John Murphy PharmD, Nancy Coleman BS, Andreas Theodorou MDLynne Tomasa PhD, Leslie Cohen JD, Jim Kerwin MD, Cathleen Michaels PhD RN, John Murphy PharmD, Nancy Coleman BS, Andreas Theodorou MD

CLASS EVALUATION RESULTSCLASS EVALUATION RESULTSCLASS EVALUATION RESULTSCLASS EVALUATION RESULTSBACKGROUNDBACKGROUNDBACKGROUNDBACKGROUND

LEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVESLEARNING OBJECTIVES

METHODSMETHODSMETHODSMETHODSSTUDENT COMMENTS: “What I Liked…”STUDENT COMMENTS: “What I Liked…”STUDENT COMMENTS: “What I Liked…”STUDENT COMMENTS: “What I Liked…”

WHAT WE LEARNEDWHAT WE LEARNEDWHAT WE LEARNEDWHAT WE LEARNED

Learning together, students reported increased awareness of the complexity of the lives

of persons with disabilities

Professional students found that learning directly from persons with disabilities had significant impact on their understanding of their lives.

Students appreciated engaging in discussions with other professionals “about important disability

issues that are often ignored.”

Large-audience and small mixed-student group activities were conducted in a 3-hour exercise, and included:

• Lecture presentation: models of disabilities, health disparities• Life stories and discussion with persons living with disabilities: -William, child with spina bifida (2007) -Laura, woman with spinal muscle atrophy (2007) -Nancy, woman with multiple sclerosis (2008)• Case scenarios highlighting transitional care, family support, community resources, communication barriers & strategies

Enhancements in 2008:•Autism video•Poetry written by 14-year-old boy with cerebral palsy

After the activity, students completed online evaluations.

The new medical school curriculum, called ArizonaMed, was implemented in 2006 . It integrated several large-group interprofessional (IP) class activities into years 1 and 2. The Disabilities activity, first held in 2007, was updated and offered again in 2008. Faculty from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work, and law designed and implemented the activity. Participating students included:

Define disability as a personal, legal, medical, and social construct. Discuss the desire of people with disabilities to live and work independently.Collaborate respectfully with other professionals as an interdisciplinary team.Describe issues associated with disabilities that can be barriers to health care.

Law ‘07… It was good to do fact analysis and engage with helping real people.

Medicine ’07… It makes us think about issues we would not necessarily have thought of previously.

Pharmacy’ 07… Helped me gain a larger understanding, big picture view of how health care is delivered and where it falls short.

Social Work ’07… Working through a case with people who have different perspectives.

Medicine ’08… This session gave us a chance to analyze a sensitive topic alongside multiple professions that we will be dealing with in the future.

Nursing ’08… It opened up my mind to what can be understood by people with mental and physical disabilities.

The Disabilities exercise made a positive impact on students’ attitudes about the value of interprofessional education.

COLLEGE STUDENTS2007

STUDENTS 2008

Law 53 0

Medicine 109 114

Nursing 79 96

Pharmacy 87 1

Public Health 3 0

Social Work 12 18

TOTAL 343 230

(2007) How much NEW information I learned about:

(2008) My understanding of the barriers to healthcare for persons with disabilities BEFORE and AFTER attending this class:

This class should be required for all professionals in health care settings:

For more information, contact Leslie Cohen – ljcohen@email.arizona.edu