Learning orthopaedics: Assessing medical students' experiences of interprofessional training in an orthopaedic clinical education ward

Interprofessional training is becoming commonplace in undergraduate medical education. Orthopaedics is considered to be a setting that offers good opportunities for interprofessional training. Curriculum overload is a common problem, which has to be addressed with respect to content. The aim of this study was to assess medical students' experiences of interprofessional care during their orthopaedic training. Over a two-week period, medical, nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy students trained together in teams in an orthopaedic ward (Clinical Education Ward, CEW). A questionnaire was distributed to assess the impact of this new curriculum on medical students. A patient-satisfaction questionnaire was also administered to assess patients' satisfaction with the treatment provided by students at the CEW. In general, the medical students were satisfied with the interprofessional course in the CEW. Of the 178 medical students who took the course, 134 (75%) responded to the questionnaire. Total time devoted to orthopaedics was reported to be between 7 - 44% (mean). The total time regarding medical tasks was reported to be between 57 - 71% (mean). Results from the patient-satisfaction questionnaire showed that patients perceived CEW as highly satisfactory. The medical students reported generally satisfactory experiences of interprofessional orthopaedic training in general. In an interprofessional training context, professional supervision and role modeling takes on added importance, and may be regarded as essential ingredients in helping students to learn effectively within an authentic clinical setting.