A community-engaged interprofessional project led by medical students, school of social work students, and resident physicians: lessons learned and recommendations for success

Authors

Sabrina Orta, Vanderbilt University
Daniela Santos Cantu, Vanderbilt University
Giuiseppe Allan Fonseca, University of Washington
Luis R. Torres-Hostos, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Chelsea Chang, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-22-2024

Abstract

Addressing health disparities through community engagement and interprofessional partnerships is increasingly critical. However, learner-led approaches that integrate medical students, resident physicians, and social work students are not well-studied. We designed a learner-led, interprofessional, public health campaign for a majority Hispanic community, with the goals of building interprofessional leadership skills, engaging learners to address COVID-19 inequities, and disseminating lessons learned. Faculty and students from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Schools of Medicine and Social Work partnered with community leaders to pilot an interprofessional project supported by the American Association of Medical Colleges’ Nurturing Experiences for Tomorrow’s Community Leaders (AAMC NEXT) Award. We describe the process of selection of a 12-member learner team of medical students, resident physicians, and social work students, and how we enacted the project from December 2020 to June 2021. Lessons learned in implementing our learner-led, community-engaged, interprofessional approach included: building interprofessional leadership skills, setting member roles and responsibilities, instilling requisite knowledge and skills, engaging with the community, and disseminating research findings. These lessons can guide other institutions seeking community-engaged interprofessional projects with learners.

Comments

© 2024 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Recommended Citation

Orta, S., Santos Cantu, D., Fonseca, G. A., Torres-Hostos, L., & Chang, C. (2024). A community-engaged interprofessional project led by medical students, school of social work students, and resident physicians: lessons learned and recommendations for success. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2024.2387589

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Publication Title

Journal of Interprofessional Care

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2024.2387589

Academic Level

faculty

Mentor/PI Department

Internal Medicine