From Patient Goals to Team Action: A Qualitative Analysis of Student Capstone Projects from a Complex Care Curriculum

Abstract

Complex care curricula (or “interprofessional student hotspotting”) are experiential, longitudinal programs based on complex care practice models where health professions students engage patients with complex health and social needs through personalized, hands-on interventions. Prior studies report mixed impacts of complex care curricula and practice models on hospital readmissions and health care costs, but evaluation of patient-driven goals and outcomes has been sparse. The objective of this study was to characterize the goals of individuals with complex health and social needs that engage with complex care curricula and the associated interventions and barriers reported by interprofessional student teams. Capstone projects of 30 student teams spanning a 5-year period (2015–2020) were analyzed via directed content analysis to identify patient goals, team interventions, and barriers. Thematic analysis revealed that the most common patient goals and team interventions focused on enhancing self-efficacy in managing health (72% and 59%, respectively) and health care system navigation (50% and 69%). Identified barriers fell into 3 major categories: barriers encountered with the health system (28%), related to the individual (66%), and arising in teamwork (50%). Over the course of each curricular cycle, students graduated with an appreciation of the importance of collaborative care for complex patients. The longitudinal impact of this analysis emphasizes patients as key stakeholders in the development of complex care curricula. By deepening our understanding of patient goals, intervention trends, and barriers—we allow for enhanced programming that prepares health professionals for practice, optimizes collaboration on interprofessional health teams, and ensures better outcomes for patients.