Submission ID 77998
| Code | OD-3-5 |
|---|---|
| At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: | |
| Category | Medical Education |
| Type | Oral |
| Will the presenter be a: | Student |
| Title | How Do Physicians Understand Social Accountability? Perspectives From Alumni of A Medical School at Different Points in Their Careers |
| Background/Purpose | Social accountability (SA) is more than an institutional responsibility-physicians and practitioners too have the agency to play a role in addressing issues of equity in the population they serve. This study gathered perspectives of a medical school alumni relating to how they believe physicians are accountable to society. |
| Methods | This paper is a part of a larger mixed methods study on the facilitators of social accountability among medical school alumni. First, alumni from a particular medical school in India were sent a questionnaire asking about their attitudes towards SA. Next, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 of these respondents to further explore their perceptions on SA and community-based work. Thematic analysis of the responses revealed how physicians understand their responsibilities towards their communities. A final survey of alumni was done using perceptions revealed in previous data. |
| Results | Of the 87 eligible responses to the preliminary questionnaire, 95% of participants agreed that physicians needed to understand the social determinants of health of communities. However, an analysis of the qualitative interviews showed a wide variation in the physicians' perceptions of accountability. It varied from addressing upstream determinants of health, practicing as doctors in rural and remote areas, to acts of altruism that were not required of them. |
| Discussion | SA and health advocacy literature shows that a physician's accountability extends beyond helping individual care-seeking patients navigate the health care system to modifying the social determinants of health and addressing health disparities at a community and global level, but there is ambiguity among physicians on the nature of their responsibilities beyond treating patients. This calls for the need to introducing social determinants - theory and practice from the start of medical training. |
| Keyword 1 | social accountability |
| Keyword 2 | medical education |
| Keyword 3 | |
| Abstract content most relevant to: (check all that apply) | Undergraduate Medical Education |
| Abstract Track - First Choice | Social Accountability |
| Authors | Harini Aiyer Kalyani Premkumar |
