Abstract
Objective: To develop and evaluate an effective, community based, multiagency course (involving doctors, nurses, non-health statutory workers, and voluntary organisations) for all Leicester medical students, in response to the General Medical Council’s recommendation of preparing the doctors of tomorrow to handle society’s medical problems.
Design: Survey evaluating a task oriented, problem solving course, designed by medical students in partnership with the University of Leicester and the local community. The students, staff, and participating agencies and patients all helped in the evaluation of the first course. The students’ performance on the course was also individually assessed.
Setting: Inner city housing estate with Jarman index 64.1 in Leicester.
Subjects: All third year medical students at Leicester University.
Main outcome measures: Results of the student assignments and students’ responses to a questionnaire. Results of feedback questionnaires distributed to the patients and agency representatives.
Results: In a two month period, 168 students completed the first course. 163 students passed the criterion referenced assignment, 50 of whom achieved an “excellent” grade. 166 completed the questionnaire, with 159 wishing to see the course continue in the present format and 149 saying that the course linked theoretical teaching with the practical experiences gained in the community.
Conclusions: The University of Leicester has a viable mechanism for providing a community based, multiagency course for all its medical students. Many of the principles applied in the development and implementation of the course could be transferred to other medical schools.
Key messages
Health policy increasingly emphasises the need for multidisciplinary service provision and training
A new course for third year medical students provides practical and reproducible multiagency learning in the community
Medical students and local community organisations participated in the development of the course
Students received quality experiences with minimum inconvenience to agencies
The structure of the course could be used in other medical schools
Full Text
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Acknowledgments
We thank Professor Frank Harris, dean of the faculty of medicine, University of Leicester, for encouraging and facilitating this work; Dr M A Edgar (medical director), Mr Roger Bettles (chief executive), and the Board of Fosse Health (NHS) Community Trust for supporting this teaching programme; Mrs Julie Harris, course coordinator, and the tutors (Dr Elizabeth Anderson, Diane Milner, and Kate West) for their enthusiastic involvement; and the patients, community organisations, and the staff of Prince Philip House for their active participation. We also thank the students who helped develop the course and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
Footnotes
Funding: Funding through Service Increment for Teaching enabled the agencies to be released from their clinical commitments.
Conflict of interest: None.
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