Interprofessional student-led clinics: An innovative approach to the support of older people in the community

ABSTRACT

A student-led clinic was established to provide both an opportunity for interprofessional student education and the delivery of patient care. Fourth- or final-year students from allied health, medicine, and nursing worked in mixed professional teams to review the health of community-dwelling older people recently discharged from acute hospitals. We designed a prospective evaluation to study services delivered and their perceived value. Between 2011 and 2013, 98 patients who had been recently discharged from an acute medical ward attended the clinic. Students generated referrals for many services, most commonly physiotherapy, podiatry, and review by a general practitioner. Patient perceptions of consultations, measured with the Patient Experience Questionnaire, were gathered from 61 out of 96 (64%) participants and were generally favourable, with the communication domain scoring the most favourably. Undergraduate students, working in mixed professional teams, are able to deliver a useful additional health promotion service to older people.

KEYWORDS:

• Education
• interprofessional outcomes
• interprofessional research
• patient-centred practice
• team-based practice

Additional information

Funding

This project was possible due to funding made available by Health Workforce Australia, an Australian Government initiative, and the Department of Health, Victoria.