Integrating the social determinants of health into two interprofessional courses: Findings from a pilot study

J Interprof Care. 2018 Jul;32(4):505-508. doi: 10.1080/13561820.2018.1435517. Epub 2018 Feb 7.

Abstract

Five colleges and universities in Upstate New York, United States, created the 'Route-90 Collaborative' to support faculty implementing the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Framework for Educating Health Professionals to Address the Social Determinants of Health. The two courses described herein used a flipped classroom approach in which students from 14 different nations were responsible for facilitating individual classes. This descriptive study used an educational intervention in two interprofessional courses - reproductive health and global health - based on the IOM Framework into two courses. The evaluation used quantitative and open-ended text response data from students. Course evaluations indicated the students found the courses helped them to learn more about health issues and service delivery in various countries, expand their knowledge base on sociocultural and ecological influences on health care, and broaden their perspectives on various health topics so they will be able to provide higher quality healthcare. Although this is the first effort of our Collaborative to implement the Framework, given the student feedback, we believe implementing the Framework in various courses has the potential to enhance healthcare service delivery and reduce the negative impact of social determinants of health.

Keywords: Flipped classroom; Social determinants of health; health professional students; interprofessional education; public health education; teaching pedagogy.

MeSH terms

  • Clinical Competence
  • Cooperative Behavior
  • Curriculum
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
  • Health Occupations / education*
  • Health Status Disparities
  • Humans
  • Interprofessional Relations*
  • New York
  • Peer Group*
  • Pilot Projects
  • Social Determinants of Health*
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Teaching / organization & administration*