APGO

Study Objective: JeffHOPE, Jefferson Medical College’s student-run clinic, provides free health care to Philadelphia’s homeless/underserved populations at homeless shelters, drug rehabilitation programs and needle exchange programs. Medical students are supervised by resident physician volunteers from Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Pediatrics, and Obstetrics and Gynecology. As preceptors, residents teach medical students to evaluate, diagnose, and treat the patients. In these settings, residents also work with residents in other specialties and pharmacy residents to collaborate and coordinate appropriate patient care. The objective of this study is to determine the impact of the interdisciplinary and interspecialty interactions on resident education in a non-traditional residency setting and how it translates to interactions in more traditional settings.

Methods: Residents from participating specialties were identified and offered participation in an online survey. The survey questions address resident experience with medical student teaching, role of resident preceptor, and working with residents from other disciplines and specialties.

Results: A convenience sample of residents from the current participating specialties were surveyed. Participants described their interactions with residents from other specialties as collaborative, working together to solve patient care problems. These interactions improved care provided to patients and the quality of education provided to students. It also highlighted a new understanding for residents of the expertise of their colleagues that participants were able to bring to the hospital and office setting.

Conclusion: Overall, resident physicians benefit from the collaborative environment at JeffHOPE, a non-traditional clinic setting, preparing them for interdisciplinary collaboration as future attending physicians in traditional clinical settings.