Interprofessional Primary Care Course Impact on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Careers

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Our innovative, highly rated, interprofessional Primary Care Course (PCC) engaged learners in dentistry, medicine, nursing, physician assistants, pharmacy, public health, and social work. PCC used a low-resource, flexible classroom format, earned 99% high student ratings, and increased PC career plans in 56% of students. This study assessed changes in PC knowledge and attitudes and tracked PC career outcomes over 5 years. METHODS: We conducted before-and-after surveys of PCC students at baseline, 1-year, and 5-year follow-up, using anonymous online surveys. An additional controlled study compared PCC students with similar students from the course waitlist. RESULTS: Surveys yielded responses from 100% (84) at baseline, 81% (68) at 1 year, 57% (48) at 5 years, and 34% (28/83) among waitlist students at year 5. Before-and-after matched pairs analyses documented significant increases at year 1, sustained through year 5, in knowledge of PC training and referral patterns and attitudes toward PC value and role in future US health care. Precourse, 56% of students planned PC careers. At year 5, PCC graduates reported working in PC (74%, 29/39), delivering direct PC patient care (48%, 19/39), and working with underserved communities (74%, 29/39). The PC knowledge and attitudes of waitlist students at year 5 were similar to PCC student baseline scores and were significantly lower at year 5. Only 27% (7/26) of waitlist students reported working in PC at year 5. CONCLUSIONS: PCC was associated with sustained increases in PC knowledge, attitudes, and careers across health professions. This low-resource, flexible format can contribute to building PC knowledge, attitudes, and workforce.