A patient-centered evaluation of a novel medical student-based patient navigation program
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn
How they used Delve
Researchers at SUNY Downstate used Delve to verify the coding of patients' free-text feedback on a medical-student patient navigator programme, checking the accuracy of two reviewers' independently developed themes and confirming that nothing had been missed.
“One reviewer (DL) utilized Delve in vivo qualitative analysis software [28] to ensure accuracy of coding and that no key themes were missed.”
- Field
- Patient navigation and medical education; patients' experience of a pilot programme in which medical students served as navigators for rheumatological conditions
- Data
- Free-response answers from a phone questionnaire completed by 44 of 71 patients (62% response rate) one to four months after their first year in the navigator programme; 39 gave free-response answers. Patients were called by a team member who was not their own navigator to limit response bias.
- Approach
- Inductive thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke on the free-response section of a phone questionnaire. Two members of the research team familiarised themselves with the responses, independently open coded them, and grouped the codes into initial themes; themes were reviewed against the codes and the data, strong consensus was reached, and representative quotations for each theme were agreed by the wider team. One of the two reviewers then worked the data in Delve as a check on coding accuracy and to confirm no key themes had been missed. Data saturation was reached with 39 of the 44 respondents giving free-response answers.
- Data types
- Open-ended survey responses
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Understand the patient experience of a pilot medical student-based patient navigator (PN) program. (2) Assess areas of improvement for further development as a model for expansion. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study assessing patients’ subjective experience of medical student navigators for rheumatological conditions. Current student navigators contacted enrolled patients by phone with both structured and free-response questions. RESULTS: 44 of 71 patients completed the questionnaire. 84% reported a satisfaction of ≥ 4 on a 5 point Likert scale. > 80% of patients felt that the program helped them better care for their health, feel more understood by their medical team, and feel cared for by their healthcare team. Medical student navigators were able to assist with most patient requests. CONCLUSIONS: Patients enrolled in our medical student PN program expressed high levels of satisfaction and felt better able to access health resources with the help of a navigator. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Employing medical students as PNs may serve as a mutually beneficial intervention providing early clinical exposure to students while furthering patient access to care. Other institutions may benefit from similarly structured interventions.
Citation
Jeremy M. Wilson, Derrick Lau, Eva Kristoferson, Ellen M. Ginzler, Naureen Kabani (2023). A patient-centered evaluation of a novel medical student-based patient navigation program. Patient Education and Counseling. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2023.108131