News and Commentary New Grants for Teaching Professionalism

The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation and the Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) are pleased to announce this year’s winners of the 2013 Education and Training to Professionalism Initiative grant. Now in its third year, the program has awarded funds to five schools to integrate professionalism into their medical education curricula. The program is aimed at making sure professionalism is routinely taught to the next generation of health professionals.

The 2013 winners and their programs:

  • The program at Children’s National Medical Center, “Developing a Health Advocacy and Public Policy Pathway for Pediatric Residents,” will train pediatric residents in the areas of patient, community and legislative advocacy. The residents, who will complete 6 educational units over three years of training, will also be surveyed to determine the merits of learning these skills.

  • SUNY Upstate Medical University, with the American College of Physicians’ program, “A Proposal for Case-based Professionalism Education for Internal Medicine Residents and Fellows: A Partnership between SUNY Upstate Medical University and the American College of Physicians,” will develop a professionalism curriculum for internal medicine physicians. The curriculum’s four simulation cases will focus on topics that include allocating appropriate health care resources and the importance of peer-monitoring.

  • The Wake Forest School of Medicine program, “Breathing New Life into an Old Tradition: Teaching Professionalism at the Bedside,” will prepare attending physicians, house staff, and students to be more effective with newly admitted patients to the general medicine and geriatric services at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The curriculum will cover everything from respecting the patient as an individual to providing patient-centered care.

  • The Saint Louis University School of Medicine program, “An Integrated Approach to Enhancing Resident and Medical Student Professionalism,” will be a multifaceted initiative that will train both residents and students on the nature of professional behavior. The programming will include monthly meetings/seminars, classes on bias and stereotypes, monthly online educational modules focusing on common issues in professionalism and bioethics, and an organizational therapist working with residents each month to minimize stress.

  • The University of Colorado School of Medicine program, “An Advocacy and Reflective Practices Curriculum: Changing the Culture in a Pediatric Department and Residency to Advance Professional Ideals and Practice,” will build a partially individualized advocacy curriculum to benefit both residents interested in general pediatrics and those planning careers in subspecialty pediatrics that would require them to advocate for children and families.

Last year’s awardees included University of Chicago; Boston University School of Medicine; Albert Einstein College of Medicine and UCSF School of Medicine. More on last year’s winners.

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