Postdischarge follow‐up visits for medical and pharmacy students on an inpatient medicine clerkship

Abstract

Teaching medical and pharmacy students to collaborate on discharge planning for chronically ill patients may facilitate their ability to provide quality care. To determine whether a discharge curriculum would improve students' attitudes and self-assessed skills in interdisciplinary collaboration and transitional care for chronically ill patients. The discharge curriculum of an inpatient medicine clerkship focused on safe patient transitions after hospitalization. Curricular components included an interdisciplinary workshop, follow-up visits with discharged patients, a final group debriefing, and letters to patients' primary care providers. Preassigned medical and pharmacy student partners coordinated discharges and conducted postdischarge visits. The change in students' attitudes and skills in interdisciplinary collaboration and discharge planning was assessed using a 5-point Likert-scaled survey given before and after the curriculum, and students reported their satisfaction using additional Likert-scaled and open-ended questions. The program was completed by 97% of students (37 of 39 medical, 22 of 22 pharmacy). The postcurriculum survey response rates were 92% and 86%, respectively; matched response rates were 58% and 59%. The attitudes and self-assessed skills of both medical and pharmacy students significantly improved for most survey items after the curriculum. Students also reported that the curriculum had a favorable impact on their learning about interdisciplinary care (4.3, SD 0.72), humanism (4.3, SD 0.63), and discharge planning (4.4, SD 0.70). Ninety-three percent reported that the curriculum was valuable to their education. A clinically oriented curriculum with postdischarge visits improved students' attitudes and self-assessed skills in interdisciplinary collaboration and transitional care and fostered a patient-centered approach to care.