An Interprofessional Program to Educate Medical Students about Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Maureen Gecht-Silver, MPH, OTR/L1, Kiyoshi Yamaki, PhD2, and Susun Xiong2 1University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Family Medicine; 2University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Disability and Human Development Introduction Program Objectives Sample Program Topics Understanding High Blood Pressure Coping with the Fear of Shots Why Get the Flu Shot? What Happens at an Annual Checkup? Talking to your Doctor about Bowel Movements People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) such as Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, and Autism Spectrum Disorders experience health disparities compared to the general population. One of the barriers is lack of adequately trained healthcare providers, which contributes to existing health disparities. To address this gap, an interprofessional team consisting of a medical educator, a disability and public health expert, and a direct service provider collaborated to develop a service learning experience for third year medical students during their family medicine clerkship. By the end of the program, students will better able to: Interact comfortably and respectfully with people with IDD Adjust communication style and approach to accommodate needs of people with IDD (e.g., use concrete examples for abstract concepts, include close ended questions for non-verbal clients, and address the client/consumer with IDD) Provide educational interventions that target the abilities and interests of people with IDD Program Structure Session 1 – On Site: Monday, 8:30am – 12:00pm Orientation Community agency tour, medical students interview consumers Students reflect on interviews, define topics to address consumer needs & interests, and commit to activity roles for session 3 Program Features Student Feedback Shift to medical student-centered programming Focus on consumer/clients’ interests and needs Create opportunities to sustain learning (e.g., post session newsletters) Emphasize collaborator input Students expressed increased comfort and confidence working with the IDD population and feel better prepared to individualize their approach. “…Having never worked with this population before, this was a great experience.” “(The instructors) really engaged us and helped us think actively about this issue. Rather than lecture us, they asked us to come up with our own ideas. Also, they related all of what we learned to clinical skills.” “Letting us devise our own plan and allowing us to constructively problem solve (was an effective instructor strategy).” Session 2 – Classroom Session: Thursday, 8:30am – 10:30am Public services history, social model of disability, provider education video, evidence for improving communication Student program planning for session 3 Session 3 – On Site: Following Monday, 9:00am – 12:00pm Program rehearsal Program implementation Debrief meeting, and student program evaluations Acknowledgments: This project was supported, in part, by the Illinois Department of Public Health through Cooperative Agreement 5U59DD000938, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Department of Health and Human Services. The authors would like to thank UCP Seguin of Greater Chicago consumers and two staff members, Terry Porter and Ana Diazdeleon for providing this learning opportunity to medical students and National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities for supporting this project.