Elements of social accountability in undergraduate health sciences curricula: A scoping review.

The 47 included studies were mostly about medical or nursing students, with only a few relating to rehabilitation professionals, so the recommendations may not transfer to rehabilitation training. The review reports what studies recommended, not whether those curricula changed practice; the authors note that the long-term impact of student-led community-based interventions on patient outcomes has barely been evaluated, and that there is no standardised way of assessing these competencies. Only studies published in English within the last 15 years were included, and studies that did not name a social accountability element for curricula were excluded, so other relevant work may have been missed. Two reviewers worked on abstract screening but one author carried out the full-text screening and the data charting, with input from co-authors. The authors also list barriers to putting any of this into curricula: limited exposure in the curriculum, no time to teach all the identified elements, a lack of staff expertise and enthusiasm, overworked staff, resource constraints, inadequate capacity building, little community participation, safety concerns in communities and a shortage of community-oriented programmes.

The authors state that the research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Do not read this as evidence that teaching social accountability produces better clinicians or better patient outcomes. The review maps what studies recommended should be taught, no patient outcomes were measured, and the authors say long-term effects on patients have barely been evaluated.