“From doing to knowing”: medical students’ experiences of working as Healthcare Assistants

ABSTRACT

There is growing recognition that doctors need to deliver person-centered care. More evidence is needed on how to best equip students in an already busy curriculum. Providing medical students with the opportunity to work as Healthcare Assistants (HCAs) can help them develop the desired skills. This study examined medical students’ experiences of working as HCAs and perceived impact on their future practice. Adopting an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach, we analyzed narratives from two focus groups of 13 ‘Year 0ʹ and ‘Year 1ʹ medical students, who had completed an HCA project. This project allowed participants to experience a new dimension of patient care whereby learning by “doing” evolved to a deeper level of “knowing” patients, the HCA role and the wider team. Four major themes were identified: seeing the doctor: gaining new perspectives; building confidence: learning from and about patients; understanding the overall patient experience: providing personal care; finding “the person behind the patient”: exploring beyond the diagnosis. This study suggests that working as an HCA enables participants to develop sustainable skills that equip them for their future role as doctors able to deliver person-centered care as part of an interprofessional team. Recommendations for inclusion of this type of intervention into the medical curriculum are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• medical curricula
• patient-centred care
• healthcare assistant
• values-based practice
• interprofessional
• qualitative research

Supplemental Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the participants for taking part in our study and all our wonderful practice partners without whom we could not deliver the HCA project. Special thanks also to Charlotte Salter, Kevin Bryant, Sally Homden, Atiya Jannat and Kim Martins who assisted with the study process at various stages.

Conflicts of interest

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

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for this study.

Notes on contributors

Elizabeth Davison

Elizabeth Davison is a Research Associate in the Centre for Interprofessional Practice, Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia. Her research interests are focussed around investigating how best to prepare students for life-long interprofessional learning and working.

Joanna Semlyen

Joanna Semlyen is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Medical Education at University of East Anglia, a Registered Health Psychologist (HCPC) and a Chartered Psychologist (BPS). Her interdisciplinary research focus in medical education includes curriculum development and diversity in medical education. She has particular interest in developing qualitative methodologies in health professions and is regional lead for Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (East of England).

Susanne Lindqvist

Susanne Lindqvist is a Professor of Interprofessional Practice at University of East Anglia. She is Director of the Centre for Interprofessional Practice and Director of Educational Strategy and Learning and Teaching Quality at Norwich Medical School. Her research interests focus around key elements that underpin optimal interprofessional practice in education and the workplace.