Empowering communities through experiential learning: the 'Enhance' program in Leadership and Social Medicine.

INTRODUCTION: Social determinants of health cause disparities in health and life expectancy in the UK1, especially in rural populations. Communities must be empowered to control their health2, alongside clinicians being more generalist and holistic. Health Education East Midlands is pioneering this approach, creating the 'Enhance' program. From August 2022, up to 12 Internal Medicine Trainees (IMT) will start the 'Enhance' program. They will spend 1 day per week learning about social inequalities, advocacy, and public health, before undertaking experiential learning with a community partner, working together to create and implement a Quality Improvement (QI) project. This will integrate trainees into communities, and help communities utilise assets to create sustainable changes. This longitudinal program will span over all 3 years of IMT. METHODS: After conducting a detailed literature search into experiential learning and service learning programs in medical education, virtual interviews were held with researchers worldwide to discuss how they created, implemented, and evaluated similar projects. The curriculum was created using Health Education England's 'Enhance' handbook, the IMT curriculum, and relevant literature. The teaching program was created with a Public Health specialist. RESULTS: The program commences in August 2022. Evaluation will commence thereafter. DISCUSSION: This will be the first experiential learning program of this scale in UK Postgraduate medical education, with future expansion focusing specifically on rural communities. Afterwards, trainees will understand the social determinants of health, health policy creation, medical advocacy, leadership, and research including asset-based assessments and QI. Trainees will be more holistic and generalist, working with and empowering their local communities. Future work will evaluate the program after commencement.References1 Marmot M, Allen J, Boyce T, Goldblatt P, Morrison J. Health equity in England: the Marmot Review ten years on. London: Institute of Health Equity, 2020. Available at https://www.health.org.uk/publications/reports/the-marmot-review-10-years-on2 Hixon AL, Yamada S, Farmer PE, Maskarinec, GG. Social justice: the heart of medical education. Social Medicine 2013; 3(7): 161-168. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258353708_Social_Justice_The_Heart_of_Medical_Education.

Student-Led Efforts to Advance Anti-Racist Medical Education.

Over the past decade, medical schools across the United States have increasingly dedicated resources to advancing racial and social justice, such as by supporting diversity and inclusion efforts and by incorporating social medicine into the traditional medical curricula. While these changes are promising, the academic medicine community must apply an anti-racist lens to every aspect of medical education to equip trainees to recognize and address structural inequities. Notably, organizing and scholarly work led by medical students has been critical in advancing anti-racist curricula. In this article, the authors illustrate how student activism has reshaped medical education by highlighting examples of student-led efforts to advance anti-racist curricula at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. HMS students collaborated with faculty to address aspects of existing clinical practice that perpetuate racism, such as the racial correction factor in determining kidney function. They also responded to the existing curricula by noting missed opportunities to discuss structural racism, and they planned supplemental sessions to address these gaps. At UCSF, students identified specific avenues to improve the rigor of social medicine courses and developed new curricula to equip students with skills to confront and work to dismantle racism. The authors describe how HMS students, in an effort to improve the learning environment, developed a workshop to assist students in navigating microaggressions and discrimination in the clinical setting. At UCSF, students partnered with faculty and administration to advocate pass/fail grading for clerkships after university data revealed racial disparities in students' clerkship assessments. In reviewing these examples of students' advocacy to improve their own curricula and learning environments, the authors aim to provide support for students and faculty pursuing anti-racist curricular changes at their own institutions.

Addressing the health advocate role in medical education.

The health advocate role is an essential and underappreciated component of the CanMEDs competency framework. It is tied to the concept of social accountability and its application to medical schools for preparing future physicians who will work to ensure an equitable healthcare system. Student involvement in health advocacy throughout medical school can inspire a long-term commitment to address health disparities. The Social Medicine Network (SMN) provides an online platform for medical trainees to seek opportunities to address health disparities, with the goal of bridging the gap between the social determinants of health and clinical medicine. This online platform provides a list of health advocacy related opportunities for addressing issues that impede health equity, whether through research, community engagement, or clinical care.First implemented at the University of British Columbia, the SMN has since expanded to other medical schools across Canada. At the University of Ottawa, the SMN is being used to augment didactic teachings of health advocacy and social accountability. This article reports on the development and application of the SMN as a resource for medical trainees seeking meaningful and actionable opportunities to enact their role as health advocates.

Honoring Medicine's Social Contract: A Scoping Review of Critical Consciousness in Medical Education.

PURPOSE: To explore how the construct of critical consciousness has been conceptualized within the medical education literature and identify the main elements of critical consciousness in medical education so as to inform educational strategies to foster socially conscious physicians. METHOD: In March 2019, the authors conducted a literature search of 4 databases and Google Scholar, seeking articles discussing critical consciousness in medical education published any time after 1970. Three of the authors screened articles for eligibility. Two transcribed data using a data extraction form and identified preliminary emerging themes, which were then discussed by the whole research team to ensure agreement. RESULTS: Of the initial 317 articles identified, 20 met study inclusion criteria. The publication of academic articles around critical consciousness in medical education has expanded substantially since 2017. Critical consciousness has been conceptualized in the medical education literature through 4 overlapping themes: (1) social awareness, (2) cultural awareness, (3) political awareness, and (4) awareness of educational dynamics. CONCLUSIONS: Critical consciousness has been conceptualized in medical education as an intellectual construct to foster a reflexive awareness of professional power in health care, to unearth the values and biases legitimizing medicine as currently practiced, and to foster transformation and social accountability. Scholars highlighted its potential to improve sociocultural responsibility and to foster compassion in doctors. Adopting a critical pedagogy approach in medical education can help uphold its social accountability through an intrinsic orientation to action, but any enterprise working toward embedding critical pedagogy within curricula must acknowledge and challenge the current structure and culture of medical education itself.

[The career of medical public health specialists graduated from the French public health medical residency]. / La carrière des médecins spécialistes de santé publique et médecine sociale titulaires du diplôme d'études spécialisées.

BACKGROUND: The French public health medical residency was created in 1984 to train medical public health specialists. Knowledge was lacking on the career of the trained practitioners, with the sole study dating from 1995. In this study, the French national association of medical public health residents aimed to describe the training and career of all medical public health specialists since the inception of the residency. METHODS: An online survey took place during the first semester of 2012 to collect information on all medical public health specialists graduated from the French public health medical residency. Descriptive analysis of the collected information was performed. RESULTS: Replies from 563 graduated medical public health residents were collected from all over the country and years since the inception of the training. Ninety-eight percent of the informants were in activity. They mostly worked in public healthcare facilities (56%) and public administration (16%). Their main areas of practice were: epidemiology, clinical research, biostatistics (37%); health management information system (19%); health policy (14%). Eighty-eight percent of the respondents held a master degree, 29% a PhD. Practical training during the medical residency was deemed as very useful or needed by 73% of the informants, theoretical training by 43%. Sixty-eight percent of informants were very or fully satisfied by their carrier, 29% rather satisfied. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to achieve coverage of more than 45% of all medical public health specialists graduated since the inception of the public health medical residency. Full employment, wide-range activities, evolving carriers can explain the high satisfaction rates. The public health medical residency being the main access point to the public health medical specialty, the impact of the initial training on the career should lead to rethink the design of the public health medical residency to fulfil the needs in the public health sector.

Advancing the Biosocial Perspective in the Clinical Training Environment: Surmounting the Barriers and Constructing the Framework.

Calls for integrating the biosocial perspective into medical education are abundant. The core curricula of most of health professions education, however, have yet to fully integrate this concept. In this Invited Commentary, the authors describe barriers to implementation-the lack of a shared vocabulary, core curriculum, and clinical metrics-and propose a framework for implementing curricula in social medicine and structural competence. Advancing the biosocial perspective necessitates concerted efforts to link classroom training in social medicine to the clinical training environment by implementing tools to identify and address structural vulnerability in the clinical setting. Creating clinical metrics that value health outcomes instead of processes will enable educators to model clinical practice that integrates the social determinants of health as a core component. Finally, formalizing and emphasizing social medicine in graduate medical education will reinforce and solidify the importance of the biosocial perspective in the future clinical practice of our trainees.

Injury prevention class exercise: three-pronged list making.

It is difficult to find classroom exercises that have been specifically designed for injury prevention students. The suggested list-making classroom exercise forces students to recognise and devise many policy and programmatic options over and above the ones that normally spring to mind. Most important, it helps give students a better understanding of what is meant by, and the potential usefulness of, the public health approach to injury prevention.

Saúde coletiva na formação médica: explorando a potência da humanização como uma das vertentes da saúde coletiva no âmbito da prática médica / Collective health in medical education: exploring the power as one of the aspects of collective health within the scope of medical practice

A presente pesquisa apresenta a compreensão do processo histórico de construção do campo da Saúde Coletiva introduzindo com seu desdobramento histórico-conceitual e apresentando a proposta da Política Nacional de Humanização e de sua influência no conjunto das práticas em saúde. Como referencial teórico no campo da Saúde Coletiva utilizamos os argumentos da racionalidade médica, medicalização e os arranjos econômicos apontados por alguns autores, que promovem a reflexão crítica sobre as relações que se dão entre profissionais e usuários dentro de uma proposta mais ampla de respeito à autonomia do outro e sobre as práticas de cuidado que promovemos no serviço. Em seguida, apresenta um processo de inserção da humanização na formação médica a partir da compreensão das Diretrizes Curriculares do Curso de Graduação da Medicina numa Escola de Medicina como um referencial importante na implementação do Projeto Pedagógico do Curso, associado as propostas da humanização no campo da prática. Como trajetória metodológica adotamos uma mixagem de alguns métodos, predominando a análise documental e a pesquisa qualitativa. Neste sentido foram analisados documentos normativos federais, projeto político pedagógico e diretrizes curriculares além da própria Política Nacional de Humanização. Finalizando, analisamos a percepção do docente diante dos fenômenos que se dão no cotidiano do ensino-serviço. Por meio das vivências apresentadas procuramos provocar a reflexão sobre os valores que são defendidos no campo da Saúde Coletiva e que necessitam ser explorados na formação da prática médica na busca por um médico humanizado. A pesquisa convida aos docentes que atuam em campo da prática médica, com alunos da disciplina de Medicina Social, a promoverem uma reflexão sobre a sua atuação no processo de formação do médico

This presente study presents the historical process of the building of the collective health area comprehension stating its concept unrolling and showing the Nacional Humanization Policy proposition and its influence on the field of health. As a reference, we used the argument of medical rationale, drugs intake and the economics arranges pointed by some authors who promote critical reflexion among the connection between the professionals and patients within a wide proposal in respect of one's autonomy and care practice promoted while in service. Then it proposes a process of humanization in the medicine graduation from the comprehension of the Diretrizes Curriculares do Curso de Graduação da Medicina in a medicine school playing an important role to the instructional Project of the course, associated with the humanization in practice. As a methodological pattern we took measures which prevail the documental analysis and qualitative research. In this respect, it has been dissected normative federal documents, public pedagogical projects and curricular guidelines beyond the Nacional Humanization Policy. Finally, we analised the perception of the docent before the circumstances that happen in a daily basis of teaching-service. Through what was presented, we intended to make people think about the values that are defended in the collective health field and need to be widly explored in the medical graduation practice chasing for a humanized professional. The research invites all docents who act as doctors along with students related to the subject Social Medicine to promote reflexion over one's performance during the graduation

Where We Fall Down: Tensions in Teaching Social Medicine and Global Health.

BACKGROUND: As global health interest has risen, so too has the relevance of education on the social determinants of health and health equity. Social medicine offers a particularly salient framework for educating on the social determinants of health, health disparities, and health equity. SocMed and EqualHealth, 2 unique but related organizations, offer annual global health courses in Uganda, Haiti, and the United States, which train students to understand and respond to the social determinants of health through praxis, self-reflection and self-awareness, and building collaborative partnerships across difference. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this paper is to describe an innovative pedagogical approach to teaching social medicine and global health. We draw on the notion of praxis, which illuminates the value of iterative reflection and action, to critically examine our points of weakness as educators in order to derive lessons with broad applicability for those engaged in global health work. METHODS: The data for this paper were collected through an autoethnography of teaching 10 global health social medicine courses in Uganda and Haiti since 2010. It draws on revealing descriptions from participant observation, student feedback collected in anonymous course evaluations, and ongoing relationships with alumni. FINDINGS: Critical analysis reveals 3 significant and complicated tensions raised by our courses. The first point of weakness pertains to issues of course ownership by North American outsiders. The second tension emerges from explicit acknowledgment of social and economic inequities among our students and faculty. Finally, there are ongoing challenges of sustaining positive momentum toward social change after transformative course experiences. CONCLUSIONS: Although successful in generating transformative learning experiences, these courses expose significant fracture points worth interrogating as educators, activists, and global health practitioners. Ultimately, we have identified a need for building equitable partnerships and intentional community, embracing discomfort, and moving beyond reflection to praxis in global health education.

Origins and Evolution of Social Medicine and Contemporary Social Medicine in Korea.

Social medicine is recognized as one of medical specialties in many countries. However, social medicine has never been formally introduced to Korea, presumably because the term and its principles were not accepted for some years in the past in American medicine, which has strongly influenced Korean medicine. This paper describes the origins and evolution of social medicine and briefly discusses contemporary social medicine in Korea. Social medicine was initiated in France and Germany in 1848. Since then, it has expanded globally and developed in diverse ways. Included in core principles of social medicine is that social and economic conditions have important effects on health and disease, and that these relationships must be subjected to scientific investigation. The term 'social medicine' is rarely used in Korea, but many of its subject matters are incorporated into preventive medicine which, besides prevention, deals with population health that is inescapably social. However, the Korean preventive medicine directs little attention to the basic concepts and principles of social medicine, upon which systematic development of social medicine can be based. Thus, it is necessary to supplement the social medicine contents of preventive medicine through formalizing the linkages between the two fields. One way of doing so would be to change the title of 'preventive medicine' course in medical colleges to 'preventive and social medicine,' as in many other countries, and to adjust the course contents accordingly.

Training Internal Medicine Residents in Social Medicine and Research-Based Health Advocacy: A Novel, In-Depth Curriculum.

PROBLEM: Health disparities are pervasive worldwide. Physicians have a unique vantage point from which they can observe the ways social, economic, and political factors impact health outcomes and can be effective advocates for enhanced health outcomes and health equity. However, social medicine and health advocacy curricula are uncommon in postgraduate medical education. APPROACH: In academic year (AY) 2012, the Cambridge Health Alliance internal medicine residency program transformed an elective into a required social medicine and research-based health advocacy curriculum. The course has three major innovations: it has a yearlong longitudinal curriculum, it is required for all residents, and all residents complete a group research-based health advocacy project within the curricular year. The authors describe the structure, content, and goals of this curriculum. OUTCOMES: Over the last four years (AYs 2012-2015), residents (17/32; 53%) have rated the overall quality of the course highly (mean = 5.2, where 6 = outstanding; standard deviation = 0.64). In each year since the new course has been implemented, all scholarly work from the course has been presented at conferences by 31 resident presenters and/or coauthors. The course seems to enhance the residency program's capacity to recruit high-caliber residents and faculty members. NEXT STEPS: The authors are collecting qualitative and quantitative data on the impact of the course. They will use their findings to advocate for a national health advocacy competency framework. Recommendations about how to initiate or further develop social medicine and health advocacy curricula are offered.

[Benefits of the Curriculum "Social Medicine for the Rehabilitation Team" in Rehabilitation Practise]. / Nutzen des Curriculums "Sozialmedizinische Leistungsbeurteilung im Reha-Team" für die Rehabilitationspraxis.

The Federal German Pension Insurance in cooperation with professional organisations developed a curriculum for further socio-medical education of psychologists/psychotherapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, sports therapists and social workers/social pedagogues involved in medical rehabilitation. This curriculum aims to improve the professional competence of the therapeutic groups named above with regards to their contributions to the socio-medical capacity evaluation and related communication within the rehabilitation team. The curriculum was implemented for the first time in 2013. Using the results of the usibility evaluation the continued education concept was revised and manualised. The manual allows for a wide dissemination of the education concept.