Impact of a university teaching of integrative medicine on the social representations of undergraduate medical students.

Integrative medicine, need to be inoffensive, effective, and of quality (World Health Organization). In 2010, the American Society of Teachers of Family Medicine approved 19 competencies for teaching integrative medicine to residents. In 2018, the University of Rennes created a course: "Integrative Medicine and Complementary Therapies". Up until then, the only feedback from the courses was the students' opinions. We investigated the impact on medical students' social representation.We performed a sociological analysis of students' social representations before and after the course. The social representation is based on the way an individual creates his or her universe of beliefs and ideas. After hearing, "What word or group of words comes to mind when you hear people speak of integrative medicine and complementary therapies?", students were asked to provide 5 words/phrases, rank their importance, and show their attitude towards these words/phrases. The frequency and importance of these words/phrases were used to construct social representations (with central cores, and primary and secondary peripheries) before and after the course.Among the 101 students registered, 59 provided complete responses before and 63 after the course. Before, the central core comprised "hypnosis" and "alternative medicine", while after: "complementary care" and "global care". We only identified first periphery before the course: "acupuncture" and "homeopathy". 4 new contrasting elements: "integration with conventional treatment", "patient's choice", "personalisation of care", and "caring relationship of trust".This teaching course positively affected students' social representation of integrative medicine, and might promote their use during future practices.

Changes in French family medicine residents' perspectives about patient partners' participation in teaching: A qualitative study in co-facilitated practice exchange groups.

PURPOSE: The patient partner in teaching method is progressively developing for clinical training in France. Practice exchange groups (PEG) co-facilitated by patient partners in teaching are used during the training of family medicine (FM) residents. This study explored the FM residents' perspectives about patient partner in teaching's participation in co-facilitated PEGs and how they changed over time. STUDENTS AND METHODS: In 2020, qualitative focus groups were carried out with 26 FM residents before and after a 5-month intervention based on monthly PEGs co-facilitated by patient partners in teaching. A reflective thematic analysis of the focus group interviews was performed according to Braun and Clarke's approach. RESULTS: FM residents supported patient partners in teaching's facilitation role and had high expectations concerning their contribution to the development of their skills and competencies. They expected patient partners in teaching to bring their individual experience and also a collective knowledge. Some limitations mentioned by FM residents disappeared over time, such as the loss of the medical group feeling among physicians, while others persisted and required pedagogical support targeted to FM residents before PEG initiation. CONCLUSION: This study shows the good acceptance of patient partners in teaching by FM residents in the context of PEGs. Attention should be paid to make FM residents aware of patient partners in teaching's missions before their introduction.

Perspectives of patient educators about their participation in an interprofessional program for healthcare students and postgraduate medical students.

Including patients in interprofessional education (IPE) programs adds value to healthcare students' education. However, little is known about the perspective and experience of the involved patient educators (PEs). An IPE program (Interprofessional Seminars, IPS) that includes PEs was developed in France in 2009. The aim of this study was to describe the PEs' perspectives about their involvement in IPS. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 32 experienced PEs, and analyzed using a reflexive thematic analysis in the framework of an inductive approach. PEs had an identifiable profile. They were motivated by a sense of civic service, had well-developed communication skills, and were prepared to share their experiential knowledge with students. They were concerned about their capacity to express themselves in front of students and the need to consolidate their involvement through a structured partnership that involves briefing, collaboration, remuneration, and feedback. They proposed to establish compulsory interprofessional training for all students and to strengthen the collaboration between an interprofessional group of students and a PE. Our results highlight the PEs' desire to be involved in IPE and to develop a genuine patient-student partnership. These insights should support the systematic integration of PEs in IPE.