School of Medicine and Health Sciences Poster Presentations
Poster Number
220
Document Type
Poster
Keywords
Public Health; Population Health; Health Policy; Medical Education; Curricular Development; Medical Students
Publication Date
3-2016
Abstract
The current chronic disease burden, growing health disparities, and evolution of our healthcare system require that medical students be equipped with basic public health education to effectively manage patients, navigate the healthcare system, and advocate for health(1,2,3,4,5,6). The Institute of Medicine and the AAMC emphasize the need for physicians to be trained in public health(1,8). The inaugural year of the revised curriculum at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences (GW SMHS) represented a first step at the institution to integrate clinical public health into medical education. As part of this process, the Clinical Public Health (CLiPH) Working Group, a student formed curriculum advisory board, was created to give real time feedback and assess the Public Health & Health Policy theme curriculum in the first year at GW SMHS. The project objectives were:
1.) To review and evaluate the effectiveness of the public health theme curriculum in the first year of the revised curriculum, including first year medical students’ perceptions and knowledge of the public health theme.
2.) To develop a proposal to maximize opportunities and achieve better integration of the public health theme into the curriculum.
The group aims toward clinical public health integration across the four year medical degree curriculum and better collaboration with the GW Milken School of Public Health (SPH) to create an expanded scope of practice within public health for practicing physicians. Over the summer, the working group engaged with multiple stakeholders to forward the clinical public health agenda at GW SMHS. To conduct the curriculum assessment, the students developed a template and the group reviewed over fifty sessions, in the Public Health & Health Policy Theme, Clinical Skills and Reasoning Course (CSR), and intersession activities. Outside research was done to supplement resources to recommend and improve integration of the clinical public health material into the revised preclinical curriculum. Recommended revisions and developments were sent to faculty stakeholders as resources for the revision process of the curriculum. Future work to revise the curriculum should include study of the evolution of students’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs surrounding clinical public health and the impact it has on their development as a physician. To better inform the development of the curriculum and how best to engage students with clinical public health, major stakeholders, such as health departments, community stakeholders, public health experts, and most importantly students should continue to be a part of the dialogue.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Open Access
1
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Medical Education Commons, Public Health Commons
Clinical Public Health Integration in Medical School Curriculum: Transitioning Medical Student Training from Medical Problems to Health Solutions
The current chronic disease burden, growing health disparities, and evolution of our healthcare system require that medical students be equipped with basic public health education to effectively manage patients, navigate the healthcare system, and advocate for health(1,2,3,4,5,6). The Institute of Medicine and the AAMC emphasize the need for physicians to be trained in public health(1,8). The inaugural year of the revised curriculum at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences (GW SMHS) represented a first step at the institution to integrate clinical public health into medical education. As part of this process, the Clinical Public Health (CLiPH) Working Group, a student formed curriculum advisory board, was created to give real time feedback and assess the Public Health & Health Policy theme curriculum in the first year at GW SMHS. The project objectives were:
1.) To review and evaluate the effectiveness of the public health theme curriculum in the first year of the revised curriculum, including first year medical students’ perceptions and knowledge of the public health theme.
2.) To develop a proposal to maximize opportunities and achieve better integration of the public health theme into the curriculum.
The group aims toward clinical public health integration across the four year medical degree curriculum and better collaboration with the GW Milken School of Public Health (SPH) to create an expanded scope of practice within public health for practicing physicians. Over the summer, the working group engaged with multiple stakeholders to forward the clinical public health agenda at GW SMHS. To conduct the curriculum assessment, the students developed a template and the group reviewed over fifty sessions, in the Public Health & Health Policy Theme, Clinical Skills and Reasoning Course (CSR), and intersession activities. Outside research was done to supplement resources to recommend and improve integration of the clinical public health material into the revised preclinical curriculum. Recommended revisions and developments were sent to faculty stakeholders as resources for the revision process of the curriculum. Future work to revise the curriculum should include study of the evolution of students’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs surrounding clinical public health and the impact it has on their development as a physician. To better inform the development of the curriculum and how best to engage students with clinical public health, major stakeholders, such as health departments, community stakeholders, public health experts, and most importantly students should continue to be a part of the dialogue.
Comments
Presented at: GW Research Days 2016