Design my Doctor: a student-led intervention

Background: Many opportunities for patient and public involvement already exist in medical education. Current approaches may not fully harness the educational potential of the patient voice, so it appears that new approaches are worth exploring. This article, co-written by students and faculty members, describes an educational initiative in which medical students had opportunistic conversations with randomly selected members of the public to explore their priorities regarding health care. Methods: The 'Design my Doctor' project enabled medical students to hear participants' spontaneous responses to the question 'What should our medical school teach your future doctors?' Students experienced the unfiltered patient voice. The 183 responses were recorded in writing, and on video, and were analysed using the nominal group technique. The themes focused on the health care priorities of members of the public. Results: Themes from the public data included 'interpersonal qualities', 'empowering patients', 'medical knowledge' and the 'health system'. Student reflective pieces showed how powerful hearing first-hand unfiltered feedback can be. Engagement in collecting and interpreting data enhanced the significance of the content and the process for the learners. Students realised that 'medical knowledge', although important, was not the overriding priority for patients. Students identified specific areas for future application and considered how it could be incorporated systematically into their programme. Discussion: As medical educators, we can use interventions like 'Design my Doctor' to facilitate and support students to proactively seek and reflect on patient feedback.