Incorporating collaborative medical–legal education into medical school training helps future physicians understand the importance of screening for social determinants of health and of advocating for the inclusion of lawyers on care coordination teams, according to a study published online Feb. 7 in Academic Medicine.
The Health Law Partnership (HeLP) community collaboration, which primarily serves a low-income, pediatric population, designed an interprofessional curriculum for law students and third-year medical students. Following the four sessions, medical students self-reported an increased likelihood to screen patients for socioeconomic and legal issues in the areas of income, education, family law, health insurance, public benefits, and Supplemental Security Income/Disability. Participation also increased likelihood of referring patients to a legal resource and of recognizing the influence a lawyer can have on improving patient care when the lawyer is part of the treatment or care-coordination team.
Georgia Health Policy Center’s Susan McLaren was a study co-author and contributed to the evaluation of the curriculum’s implementation at Morehouse School of Medicine.
“Adoption of educational opportunities like this helps support interprofessional collaboration that can potentially improve child well-being,” says McLaren. “This type of workforce development can build a common understanding of how to jointly address issues that fall outside of the clinic’s doors.”