by Stephanie Powell
As part of the primary care curriculum, our medical students learn about the wider determinants of health and health inequalities, and how these impact on healthcare access, experiences and outcomes. Our students also need to learn skills in holding more person-centred, inclusive conversations with patients, including those with complex health needs and those experiencing social exclusion. As part of this, we are keen to develop curriculum materials that reflect diverse lived experiences of patients and communities.
We have worked with Expert Focus, who are a team with lived experience of homelessness, to explore their perspectives about health, healthcare and what they would most like our students to know. Their insights highlight the reality of experiencing homelessness and the diversity within this experience.
Some examples include:
- The stigma associated with experiencing homelessness and the impact on experiences of and access to healthcare
- The challenges of accessing primary care, whether by phone or through an online booking system, when a person might not have enough credit on their device.
- The importance of building trust and the life-changing impact of engaging with a healthcare professional that listens and believes you.
- The impact of using clear and simple vocabulary when explaining a diagnosis or procedure, particularly if a patient speaks English as an additional language.
- The constant worry associated with a low income.
We are weaving these insights throughout our curriculum materials. For example, in a case-based session on inclusion health, our Phase 1c (year 3) students listen to audio clips of people discussing their lived experiences of homelessness, and these prompt exploration about how to take a person- centred, trauma-informed approach. Similarly, in our Promoting Health Equity module, Phase 1c students reflect on lived experience excerpts to develop a better appreciation of the impact of wider determinants of health, and on what could make the most difference, including the role of advocacy. Student feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with many students citing how impactful it has been for them to hear from people with lived experience, including their insights and advice, and that the audio clips made the topic feel more real. We would like to extend a huge thank you to the Expert Focus team for their involvement.
We know that our students hugely value the opportunities they receive on their primary care placements to build on this learning, through meeting and consulting with diverse patients and working with community organisations as part of their project work. Thank you so much to all our GP tutors and practices for facilitating this vital and impactful experiential learning.
If you have any questions about the collaboration or curriculum materials, please contact Steph Powell, Community Collaboration Lead: stephanie.powell@imperial.ac.uk