Teaching medical students about disability and rehabilitation: methods andstudent feedback

The predicted increase in the prevalence of chronic and disabling diseases in the population over the next 30 years calls for a more effective approac h to educating medical students about the assessment and management of disa bility. The introduction of a new postgraduate medical course at Flinders U niversity of South Australia in 1996 allowed the development of a new topic on disability and rehabilitation. Over a 4-week period, students undertake four activities. First, they follow a particular patient in an inpatient r ehabilitation setting and learn about the multidisciplinary approach to reh abilitation. Secondly, they each visit two people with a disability living in the community and assess their physical, mental, functional and social s tatus. Thirdly, they each visit a service which supports those people in th e community. Finally, they simulate having a disability which is randomly a llocated to them. During these 4 weeks, students also participate in proble m-based learning (PBL) and have 27 h of associated sessions or lectures. Th e PBL cases and associated sessions have a 'chronic disease' theme. We deve loped a questionnaire to obtain student feedback on this new topic in the f irst 2 years of its delivery. A 69% response rate has been obtained. Overal l, the topic was well-received, and as a result most students felt more com fortable in dealing with disabled people. They were enthusiastic about ward work, and enjoyed learning about aspects of multidisciplinary team care. E xercises involving simulation of disability were largely acceptable. We bel ieve that this topic helps our students to deal better with the problems of disabled people.