Competency-based analysis of patient panel pedagogy for intellectual disability education: first-year medical students’ perspectives on learning from people with intellectual disabilities

Abstract Background To improve healthcare for individuals with intellectual disabilities, it is imperative to increase the number of future healthcare providers equipped to care for this population. Yet, the integration of intellectual disability content into medical training is still limited since the density of the typical medical school curricula makes adding new content challenging. Designing an efficient yet impactful instructional method is, therefore, essential to teach intellectual disability in this curricular environment. To aid that effort, this study examined student perceptions of a patient panel featuring individuals with intellectual disabilities, analyzing their reflective essays to describe how students integrated concepts from the Core Competencies on Disability for Health Care Education. Methods The Framework Method was used to qualitatively analyze reflective essays written by first-year medical students who attended a patient panel with adult individuals with Down syndrome. Codes were developed from the Core Competencies on Disability for Health Care Education and used to analyze a total of 55 reflective essays. All three authors were part of the analysis process. Results Since the patient panel provided a firsthand account of lived experiences shared by individuals with intellectual disabilities, it was highly valued by the participating students. Content analysis of the essays demonstrated that the patient panel was effective in addressing intellectual disability care contents of the Core Competencies that comprise conceptual frameworks, professionalism, legal obligations, and systems-based practice. In contrast, the Core Competency contents associated with clinical care and assessment were mentioned significantly less. Conclusions The competency-based analysis of the patient panel with individuals with Down syndrome illuminated the highly effective nature of the patient panel pedagogy for intellectual disability education. When combined with clinically oriented learning modules, the patient panel can effectively play a key role in educating medical students in intellectual disability within the current time-limited curricular environment.