Can participation in a health affairs interdisciplinary case conference improve medical students knowledge and attitudes?
PURPOSE: To explore whether participation in a three-hour health affairs interdisciplinary case conference (HAICC) changed medical students’ knowledge and attitudes about the role of interdisciplinary teams in health care. METHOD: Faculty from ten University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill health professions’ schools helped to design the HAICC. Conference goals included improving students’ knowledge and attitudes about the skills of various health professions and the benefits of interdisciplinary care. From 2001-04, 2,005 health professions students, including 615 second-year medical students, participated in the HAICC. Working in teams, students, using the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Function and Disability, interviewed a standardized patient and, then, developed a patient-centered management plan. A self-report instrument to assess medical students’ knowledge about each of the ten health professions and to assess students’ attitudes about working with
