gms | German Medical Science

Objectives: Successful interprofessional clinical pathways are essential for adequate patient treatment [1], [2]. However, they are not part of medical education in Switzerland so far. When we designed the new bachelor’s in human medicine at ETH Zurich, we developed the course “Interprofessional Clinical Pathways” to address this need.

Method: The course follows a fictive patient with rectal carcinoma through stops within the Swiss health care system, e.g. pharmacist, web search, general practitioner and all other medical professions. The module focuses on the patient’s perspective, with all steps of the pathway being visualised by video sequences; from the perception of her first symptoms, to the visit of the pharmacy followed by hospitalisation, operation, chemotherapy until home care. The videotaped patient case was used as a guidance for lecturers and students to refer to the case when needed. During the course, the students met representatives of different health professions including students from pharmaceutical and nursing science, with whom they engaged in group works and peer teachings. The additional project “bring your own patient” helped students to transfer the knowledge and to reflect about the health care system using a patient of their own environment. They analysed and summarised their case in a written essay.

Results: 83 bachelor students in their 3^rd year took part. The essays show that students can reflect critically on the clinical pathway of their “own” patient and are able to change perspectives (patient and healthcare provider), which are important characteristics for future medical doctors [3] These findings were backed up by the course evaluation pointing out specific learnings at the interface between different medical professions.

Discussion: The combination of patient history, interprofessional meetings, peer teaching and reflections about student’s own cases may sensitise students for the complexity of interprofessional patient pathways at an early stage of their study.

Take home messages: Sensitising students early for the complexity of interprofessional clinical pathways and introducing them to joint problem-solving with students from other health professions can help to improve patient care in the future.