To reflect the changing nature of how health care is delivered, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the U.S. accrediting body for allopathic medical degree programs, has added a competency related to interdisciplinary skills.
To achieve this , medical students need to learn how to work respectfully and efficiently with nursing, social work, physical therapy and other health care trainees. As part of their training, all of these student groups will learn what it means to work at the top of their license and how to function — courteously and collaboratively — as a health care team.
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Although as a prospective medical student you won’t need to know this for your medical school interview, working at the top of your license means that you manage the most complex components of your job that your license allows. For example, although registered nurses cannot prescribe medications from the pharmacy, they do perform physical examinations on patients and consider various diagnoses.
Advanced nurse practitioners prescribe medications and, in some states, function as an independent practitioner. Physician assistants examine patients, make diagnoses and prescribe meds, although they must always work under the supervision of a physician.
As a medical school applicant, you should know that this new LCME competency may impact the expectations of how you communicate with other professionals. In fact, some medical school interviewers now hail from various medical disciplines, such as those listed above, and others are members of the lay public.
So how might a nurse, physician and social worker function as a team in a busy outpatient clinic? Let’s say they have three patients who often visit the emergency room yet frequently miss their outpatient appointments.
All three patients regularly run out of their medications, creating a need for urgent care. As the physician, how would you handle this situation?
An unacceptable response would be to tell the patients that if they don’t take their medications as prescribed and don’t show up for scheduled follow-up visits, you will not keep them in your practice. A much better response would be to meet with your team before the patients arrive for their appointments and prepare a game plan. A good overall strategy would be to meet early to review all patients on the schedule that day and prepare a game plan for each patient.
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Let’s say that during the team huddle, the nurse reports that patient A doesn’t pick up her medications from the pharmacy or come to appointments because she doesn’t have transportation. Patient B’s spouse just lost his job, causing both of them tremendous emotional and financial stress.
In the case of patient C, the emergency room team gave him an early morning outpatient appointment, but because of bus transfer issues, it’s impossible for him to arrive before 11 a.m.
It doesn’t matter who on the health care team discovers crucial information about patients — what matters is that the team shares the information and creates a common plan to best help each patient.
Each health care team member will carry out his or her role at the top of the license to promote optimal care and give patients a better chance to succeed. Because of this interdisciplinary approach, the patients will feel that multiple people understand their challenges and truly are engaged in trying to help them.
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Some medical schools have created student teams to practice handling these types of patient situations. If you are a med school applicant, here are some recommended steps to take to evaluate med schools and the ways they meet the interdisciplinary competency:
— Inquire how each school on your short list teaches interdisciplinary care.
— Look to the curriculum for interactive sessions as well as actual practice sessions together as a team with real patients.
— Ask if the school offers extracurricular activities that promote interdisciplinary care, such as a global mission trip or opportunities at a local free clinic.
You may find that special interest group participation and social events are offered soon after matriculation, but these should not be the only interactions with other health care trainees. Preferably interdisciplinary care activities begin early in medical school and not just during the final months before graduation.
There’s no question that medicine has evolved into a team sport. The secret to functioning as a successful team lies in respectful communication and working collaboratively and at the top of one’s license. For future physicians, rather than thinking about being in charge, consider how you fit into a team that consistently provides excellent patient care.
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Medical Students Learn to Work as a Team originally appeared on usnews.com
