1625 - From Student Voices to Curriculum Change: Expanding Disability Education in Medical Training

Thursday, February 19, 2026

5:00 PM - 6:30 PM AST

Presenting Author(s)

JK

Justin Y. Kim, BA

Medical Student
Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Co-Author(s)

NI

Nancy Ibrahim, BA

Medical Student
Lewis Katz School of Medicine
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Submitter(s)

JK

Justin Y. Kim, BA

Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Objectives: Recent literature suggests that there is a lack of education in medical school curriculums regarding the needs of patients with disabilities. This project was designed to assess how well the preclinical curriculum at one medical school prepared students to interact with and examine patients with disabilities, identify which teaching modalities would be most helpful, and use these findings to advocate for expanded disability education.

Design: We utilized a mixed-methods approach to evaluate disability education in the preclinical curriculum. A focus group of 12 third-year medical students explored perceptions of preparedness and effective teaching modalities. Curriculum review quantified the total number of sessions dedicated to disability education, including lectures and doctoring sessions.

Results: During the focus group, all 12 students reported feeling that the preclinical curriculum adequately prepared them to interact with and treat patients with disabilities. Four students suggested that lecture sessions discussing the specific needs of patients with disabilities would be beneficial, while all 12 students emphasized that hands-on experience with a wide variety of disabilities would be helpful to understand the nuances in interacting with this population. Quantitative analysis of the curriculum revealed one 60-minute lecture and one 120-minute doctoring session dedicated to teaching medical students about care for patients with disabilities.

Conclusions: This mixed-methods analysis revealed that students felt underprepared to care for patients with disabilities, with only 180 minutes devoted to this topic in the preclinical curriculum. Although this study functioned primarily as an educational needs assessment, it also constitutes the planning and doing stages of a quality improvement process. The findings directly informed a resolution passed by the Pennsylvania Medical Society and the creation of a new curriculum, positioning the next step as evaluating its impact on student preparedness.