Maintaining Community During Disruption: Lessons From the Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium.

ABSTRACT: When the COVID-19 pandemic emerged early in 2020, the American Medical Association's (AMA) Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium focused on maintaining its community of 37 medical schools and 11 graduate medical education projects along with the core substance of its work. The initial response was to cancel events and reduce the workload of consortium members, but it quickly became clear that the consortium needed additional strategies. The constituents needed resources, support, and community. The authors, along with the rest of the AMA team, learned to maximize the benefits and minimize the drawbacks of operating virtually. These insights supported the continuation, and even expansion, of the consortium's innovations despite extremely stressful circumstances. In this Scholarly Perspective, the authors outline the actions that they and the AMA team took in 2020 and 2021 at the beginning of the pandemic and as that crisis progressed and was further intensified by the significant distress reflected in the protests after the murder of George Floyd. The goal of these actions was to maintain the consortium's core substance, innovation, momentum, and sense of community. The authors describe lessons learned in 2020 and 2021 via a novel model developed to facilitate ongoing collaboration and respond rapidly to the needs of overwhelmed medical educators. This model is composed of 4 phases: assessing needs, mining experts, convening people, and generating products. This model for leveraging a community of practice can help educators optimize collaboration, whether educators are pursuing innovation in the training of physicians or other health care professionals and whether in times of extreme stress or stability, the model provides a pathway for maintaining community. The prepandemic way of working will not return. Virtual participation and collaboration will remain a part of work and daily life for the foreseeable future and beyond.

Supporting Medical Education Innovation: Evaluation of a Grants Initiative.

PROBLEM: Medical education must evolve to meet the changing needs of patients and communities. Innovation is a critical component of that evolution. As medical educators pursue innovative curricula, assessments, and evaluation techniques, the impact of innovations may be limited by minimal funding. The American Medical Association (AMA) Innovation Grant Program, launched in 2018, seeks to address the gap in funding and stimulate educational innovation and research in medical education. APPROACH: In 2018 and 2019, the Innovation Grant Program targeted innovation in content areas including health systems science, competency-based medical education, coaching, learning environment, and emerging technology. The authors reviewed the content of applications and final reports for the 27 projects completed during the first 2 years of the program. They also noted measures of success (completion of project, achievement of grant objectives, development of transferrable educational product, dissemination). OUTCOMES: In 2018, the AMA received 52 submissions and funded 13 proposals, dispersing $290,000 ($10,000 and $30,000 grants). In 2019, the AMA received 80 submissions and funded 15 proposals, dispersing $345,000. Among the 27 completed grants, 17 (63%) supported innovations related to health systems science. Fifteen (56%) were used to create educational products that could be shared, such as new assessment tools, curricula, and teaching modules. Five grant recipients (29%) published articles and 15 (56%) presented at national conferences. NEXT STEPS: The grant program advanced educational innovations, particularly in health systems science. The next steps will involve examining the long-term outcomes and impact of the completed projects on medical students, patients, and the health system; the professional development of the grantees; and the adoption and dissemination of the innovations.