Public health, medicine, and dentistry as partners in community health: a pioneering initiative in interprofessional, practice-based education.

CONTEXT

As public health challenges grow more complex, the call for professional education to be interprofessional, collaborative, and grounded in real world practice has intensified.

OBJECTIVE

In this article, we describe the development, implementation, and results of one pioneering course at Boston University that aims to prepare public health, medical, and dental students for their combined roles in community health settings.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

The Schools of Public Health, Medicine, and Dental Medicine jointly offered the course in partnership with 3 community organizations. Participants include MPH, MD, and DMD candidates.

INTERVENTION

The course design integrates the use of "The Challenge Model" (created by Management Sciences for Health) with training in public health consultation techniques (eg, community-based participatory research, logic models, monitoring and evaluation). Teams of 6 to 8 medical and public health students collaborate with managers and staff of a community health center to address 1 organizational challenge and recommend a sustainability plan.

RESULTS

Postcourse evaluations revealed that a cross-disciplinary, practice-based education model is feasible and can meet students' learning objectives and exceed expectations of community partners. We overcame formidable obstacles related to the "silo'ed" nature of academic institutions and the competing priorities within overburdened community organizations. We found that sustained project implementation was attained at some but not all sites, yet all sites highly valued the perspective and contribution of student teams.

CONCLUSION

Dynamic and replicable, this practice-based education model is adaptable to professional schools whose work intersects in the real world and calls for collaborative leadership.