Description |Aim | Process | Evaluation | Contact

Description

The Second Year subject, Doctor, Patient and Society II consists of 3 parts: Population Health; 'Beyond Me' and Family Attachment.

Through a General Practitioner tutor families are identified and then approached to be part of the scheme. Students, in pairs, meet with these host family on four occasions over one academic year.

Although the intention was that each session with the family would last for approximately 1 hour, some of these interactions last up to 4 or 5 hours and in some cases become quite a social event.

Students have structured tasks for each visit and their overall work contributes to 15% of their result for Doctor, Patient and Society II.

Aim

The aim of the Family Attachment Scheme is to enable all students to appreciate the interaction between disease and the family by being 'attached' to a family for an academic year.

Process

During the first visit by the student to the host family the student and family get to know one another. The student produces a family tree which includes all members of the household and a milestone chart so that by the end of the first visit students have recorded details of the family structure and the major events of this century which the family see as important to them.

The second visit involves the students taking a medical history of the nominated 'patient'. The case notes provide the students with an excellent guide for future use.

Despite some initial concerns, the task for the third visit has proved to be very successful. Students are asked to do a survey of the quality of family relationships along the lines of an 'Apgar'*. One or more members are invited to comment on whether the following statements are true "Almost Always", "Sometimes" or "Rarely":

• I can turn to family support if I am disturbed
• My family talks successfully
• My family will support me in a new endeavour
• My family expresses affection easily
• My family spend time with each other

These responses are then scored. The correlation between the score and the students' observations was consistently high.

The purpose of the fourth and final (formal) visit is to focus on the interaction between the patient and society. The students are asked to accompany the patient when they consult a care provider. Students are made aware that they are there to support 'their' patient, not the medical practitioner.

Some students and family have maintained their relationship informally through further visits, birthday cards and the like. While this is not a formal part of the program it is not discouraged.

*An 'Apgar Score' is the score resulting from a survey of fitness of new born babies based on indicators such as heart rate and respiration.

Evaluation

The Family Attachment Scheme was first introduced in 1995. To evaluate the program the 3 main groups participating in the program: students; families and general practitioners, were surveyed. Comments were overwhelmingly positive. Of considerable interest was the number of families who agreed to be involved in the Scheme in subsequent years.

Contact