How patient educators help students to learn: An exploratory study

Abstract

Introduction: Benefits of the active involvement of patients in educating health professionals are well-recognized but little is known about how patient educators facilitate student learning.

Method: This exploratory qualitative study investigated the teaching practices and experiences that prepared patient educators for their roles in a longitudinal interprofessional Health Mentors program. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven experienced health mentors. Responses were coded and analyzed for themes related to teaching goals, methods, and prior experiences.

Results: Mentors used a rich variety of teaching methods to teach patient-centeredness and interprofessionalism, categorized as: telling my story, stimulating reflection, sharing perspectives, and problem-solving. As educators they drew on a variety of prior experiences with teaching, facilitation or public speaking and long-term interactions with the health-care system.

Conclusions: Patient educators use diverse teaching methods, drawing on both individualistic and social perspectives on learning. A peer-support model of training and support would help maintain the authenticity of patients as educators. The study highlights inadequacies of current learning theories to explain how patients help students learn.

Acknowledgements

We thank Cathy Kline for assistance in designing the interview guide and advice about the research process, and William Godolphin for feedback and advice throughout the project.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by University of British Columbia Behavioural Research Ethics Board.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article. The study was funded by the CIHR Health Professional Student Research Award and the UBC Faculty of Medicine.

Notes on contributors

Phoebe T. M. Cheng, BSc is a third-year medical student at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She received her BSc from UBC with a major in biology and minor in arts.

Angela Towle, PhD is Co-Director of Patient & Community Partnership for Education in the Office of UBC Health, University of British Columbia. She is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine and senior scholar in the Centre for Health Education Scholarship in the Faculty of Medicine.

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by the CIHR (Health Professional Student Research Award) and the University of British Columbia (Faculty of Medicine).