Health Care for People Who Are Incarcerated: Teaching Third-Year Medical Students About Rights, Challenges, and Avenues of Advocacy.

Abstract

Introduction: Incarcerated patients are a vulnerable patient population with unique barriers to health care that physicians in every specialty encounter. Current medical school curricula lack universal education on health care for incarcerated people.

Methods: We developed an interactive workshop to provide third-year medical students at the University of Kentucky with information about delivering care outside of dedicated carceral settings to individuals who are incarcerated. The workshop included education on the demographic characteristics and medical conditions present in these populations along with understanding incarcerated persons' rights to health care and how to interact with them and the associated jail/prison workforce often accompanying them on medical visits. The workshop also discussed advocacy tools aimed at providing equitable health care for incarcerated people. Our workshop consisted of a 30-minute large-group didactic session providing a basic understanding of the health care needs of incarcerated people, followed by a 30-minute small-group discussion of a JAMA Viewpoint article focused on advocacy for equitable health care for this patient population. Workshop effectiveness was assessed with a survey before and after the session.

Results: One hundred and five students (55%) completed a self-assessment before and after the workshop, demonstrating an increase in knowledge and confidence on all but one question, with statistically significant p values less than .05.

Discussion: Our 1-hour, interactive workshop for medical students in their clinical years demonstrated significant improvement in students' knowledge and confidence regarding providing health care to people who are incarcerated.