"Thank You for Giving Me a Voice!" A Longitudinal Evaluation of Patients' Experience of Partnering With Students in an Australian Medical School.

BACKGROUND

We evaluated the patient-partner experience in a longitudinal program called Integrated Population Medicine in the Sydney Medical School to assess its acceptability. The program exposed senior medical students to the lived experience of chronic disease.

METHODS

We surveyed 267 people with chronic conditions recruited as patient-partners by the 2012 student cohort in a mixed-methods longitudinal cohort study. Surveys were administered 'over' 18 months: before, during, and after the program.

RESULTS

A total of 155 (58%) patient-partners completed the baseline survey; 52 patients returned all 3 surveys. Patient-partners remained very positive about the program across all surveys. More than 95% of respondents enjoyed interacting with the student, and most were very positive about their role in teaching the student. Three major themes emerged: willingness to help, a sense of gratitude and enjoyment, and a chance to teach and learn. Participants were willing to discuss their illness experiences and were keen to spend more time with students.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients are willing participants in longitudinal patient-partner programs. They perceive benefits for themselves and others, for the health system, and for students and would like to become more actively involved in medical education.