Medical Students Screen for Social Determinants of Health: A Service Learning Model to Improve Health Equity

Abstract

Introduction: Medical schools are now required to address health disparities within their curriculum, with a recent emphasis on social determinants of health (SDOH). However, there is scant evidence that incorporating educational experiences around SDOH impacts health equity for patients. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique setting to engage students to address SDOH directly with patients. Methods: The authors designed a service-learning experience in which medical students conducted a patient needs assessment survey by phone to assess SDOH in the domains of health care access, economic stability, and social cohesion. We drew descriptive statistics from a deidentified Excel database of call outcomes to quantify health care interactions and community resource referrals generated by callers. Results: The call outcomes revealed unmet health and social needs among the patient population and generated a substantial number of actions to improve health care access and awareness of community resources. Conclusion: The results of this project show that employing medical students to engage with SDOH through action-oriented service learning positively impacts health care access and referrals to community resources. This initiative provides a flexible model to engage medical trainees in addressing health-related social needs that can be applied to a range of clinical settings and learner levels.