The value of interprofessional education in identifying unaddressed primary health-care challenges in a community: a case study from South Africa

ABSTRACT

Many countries rely on community health workers (CHWs) at a primary health care (PHC) level to connect individuals with needs to health professionals at health-care facilities, especially in resource-limited environments. The majority of health professionals are centrally based in facilities with little to no interaction with communities or CHWs. Stellenbosch University (South Africa), included interprofessional home visits in collaboration with CHWs as part of students’ contextual PHC exposure in a rural community to identify factors impacting on the health of patients and their families. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of this interprofessional student service-learning initiative on identifying and addressing health-care challenges of households known to CHWs. Active physical, social and attitudinal factors were identified and recorded using a standardized paper case report form. Data were anonymized, captured and categorized for analysis. The frequency and proportion of each type of active problem and referral were calculated. The collaborative team identified many unaddressed health and social issues during their visits. Their exposure to communities at a PHC level offered benefits of experiential learning and provided insight into community needs, as well as offering services to enhance the current health-care system.

KEYWORDS:

• Interprofessional education
• decentralised training
• community health workers
• primary health care
• International Classification of Functioning
• Disability and Health
• ICF
• case study
• health systems

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Stellenbosch University, South Africa..

Notes on contributors

Jana Muller

Jana Muller(BSc Phyio; MSc. OMT) is the coordinator for interprofessional education and collaborative care at the Ukwanda Centre for Rural Health, Stellenbosch University (South Africa). One of her ongoing interprofessional education and collaborative practice projects won the 2017 FAIMER Projects that Work Award. She is also currently coordinating the expansion of the University’s rural training platform and involved in research related to distributed learning, community engagement and collaborative care. Jana is a member of African Interprofessional Education Network (AfrIPEN) and Rural Rehabilitation of South Africa (RURESA).

Stefanus Snyman

Dr Stefanus Snyman (MB, Ch. B; M. Phil (HealthScEd); DOM) is an occupational medicine practitioner and health professions educationist. He is currently research associate at the Centre for Community Technologies at Nelson Mandela University (Port Elizabeth, South Africa) and project manager of the WHO-FIC Collaborating Centre for the Africa Region. He serves as facilitator of the African Interprofessional Education Network (AfrIPEN), is member of the Advisory Board of the Journal of Interprofessional Care and is on the Facilitation Team of the Global Confederation for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice (Interprofessional.Global).

Amy Slogrove

Dr Amy Slogrove MBChB, MMed, FCPaed(SA), PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics & Child Health and the Research Lead for Ukwanda Centre for Rural Health in the Department of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University. She is a paediatrician and epidemiologist with specific expertise in epidemiological evaluation of pregnancy and early-life exposures.

Ian Couper

Prof Ian Couper, BA, MBChB, MFamMed, FCFP(SA), is director of the Ukwanda Centre for Rural Health and Professor of Rural Health, Department of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University. He has been engaged in driving community-based interprofessional education over many years, including more than 13 years at the University of the Witwatersrand and the North West Department of Health. He is the African section editor of the journal Rural and Remote Health and an associate editor of BMC Medical Education. He has held visiting appointments at Flinders and Monash Universities in Australia and University of Washington in the USA.