Uniting Community and University in the Education of Health Professionals

Wafa Asadian

Dr. Angela Towle

Division of Health Care Communication

University of British Columbia

Presented at CU Expo 2013

Corner Brook, NL, CanadaJune 13, 2013

Summary

•Query• “expertise” as implied in the discourse of

community and university relationships•Conclusion

• “expertise” has academic rendering• Need for alternative perspectives that

recognize community’s experience as “expertise”

• Definitions • Issue

• Health care• Community-based education

• Design• Question • Participants • Method• Analysis

• Community input and discussion• Acknowledgement

Table of content

Definitions

• Patient: people with/without health-related condition

• Community: patient, organizations, patient advocates

• Health professions: health-related disciplines

Issue Health care

• Potential vulnerability• Social: e.g. Indigenous; refugees; immigrants• Physical: e.g. (dis)ability, chronic illness, HIV/AIDS• Psychological e.g. mental health conditions,

alcohol/substance abuse

• Improving access by improving education

IssueCommunity-based education

• Mechanisms decided by academia

• Deficit view of the community as recipients of services

• Expertise?

Design

QuestionParticipantsMethodAnalysis

Question

How does the community apply the terms expert and expertise in the health professional discourse?

Participants

• 15 program coordinators, executive directors, and CEOs from different community organizations

• Sectors: mental health, disability, chronic disease, women, HIV/AIDs, Sexual health, immigrants and refugees

Method and analysis

• Interviews• One on one • Semi-structured: open, some

questions and probing around the topic

• Transcribed and analyzed

Community input

“we know very well ..how this disease impacts families and …we would not be experts on the biomedical processes involved in the disease. We know about it and we learn about it and we try to keep on top of it and we can speak to it but we never replace a health care professional on those, or researchers.”

Interviewee 11

Community input

“I don’t have the expertise on that side but I know that if you had to teach community based medicine I think you would do it completely differently.”

“For the autism workshop …we found a couple of psychologists … they really know how to spin a good one day workshop. They have a lot of expertise and they answer questions well and they have people who are doing clinical research and teaching.”

Interviewee 8

Discussion

Health professionalClinicalBiomedical ResearchTeaching

Discussion

• Community: education, receiving “expert knowledge” from students

• University: education; ownership, giving to • Professional, special knowledge

Community input

“the biggest problem that people, including myself, find in interacting with health care professionals is the assumption that they’re the expert and they know what I need. And of course they’re the expert, that’s why I’m going to see them. But when you live with a chronic illness or a disability you have to become the expert in how it affects you.”

Interviewee 7

Discussion Alternative perspectives

• Division of Health Care Communication at UBC• Workshops by community educators (people with

disability or chronic illness)• Professional education held by non-professionals

Alternative perspectives

•Expert by experience

•Learning with rather than about• Deficit model• Recognition of assets and resources

• Complementary expertise

Questions for reflection

1) How could we concretely recognize and include the expertise of the community in health professional education?

2) What theories or guiding principles accommodate community’s voice as a form of expertise?

3) What are your ideas for the active involvement of the patients and community in health professional education?

Acknowledgement

Funding agencyVancouver Foundation

Project team Cheryl Hewitt

Dr. William GodolphinCathy Kline

Scott GrahamAnusha Elliot Paul Kerston

Thank you