Teaching medical students multi-disciplinary team work through integrated course

Abstract

Abstract Healthcare reform in Kazakhstan has created a basis for shift from disease centered approach to person and prevention centered healthcare. In order to embrace that agenda, Kazakh National Medical University has developed and implemented project-based course in General practitioners (GP) training program at the internship level. The objective of the program is to acquire skills on work in multidisciplinary teams for health promotion and research. We used project-based learning pedagogical framework for the course. 6 ECTS course was integrated into curriculum of internship in the track of GP training, at the 7th year, for 1 semester. During the course participants were introduced to the theoretical concepts of health promotion and disease prevention program planning, created and implemented their own project. At the end of the course students were required to do a poster presentation. Main outcomes of educational program were that students will (1) gain understanding of health promotion and disease prevention concepts, (2) would be able to implement research skills, (3) and work in integrated multidisciplinary team. To measure results, we disseminated self-administered online based questionnaire for students after the last class (n = 122). Questionnaire consisted of 4 domains: self-development and team work, teaching, context and clinical practice. There were 17 domains that students assessed with 5-point Likert scale, where 1- strongly disagree, 2- disagree, 3- agree to some extent, 4 - agree, 5 - strongly agree. Questionnaire also included 1 open - ended question for overall comments on the course and demographic questions. The response rate was 68,8% (n = 84), overall satisfaction rate was 77.6% (3.88 out of 5), rate on team work and practical work was 86% (4.3) and 83.6% (4.18). Comments of students showed that there is still not enough understanding on integrated person-centered primary healthcare approach and lack of integrated team work at clinical sites. Key messages Education of future general practitioners should include training on teamwork in integrated teams and health promotion. Project based learning helps training multi-disciplinary team work skills not only within students but also in teams at involved sites.