Effectiveness of a Collaborative, Virtual Outreach Curriculum for 4th-Year EM-bound Students at a Medical School Affiliated with a Historically Black College and University.

Abstract

Background: Diversity within the physician workforce is associated with improved clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction. Despite this, the US physician workforce, particularly in emergency medicine (EM), remains relatively homogeneous. Of all Black medical school students in the US, 14% attend the four Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) that have a medical school. Unfortunately, none of these schools are affiliated with an academic EM program. Because of this, there is less professional mentorship focused on obtaining a career in EM and potentially less formal curricula for senior medical students doing their home sub-internship in EM.

Objectives: Our objective was to fill the gap left by the absence of an academic EM department at Howard University College of Medicine (HUCOM) by creating a collaborative educational experience for fourth-year medical students during their home EM sub-internship. The curricular objectives were to teach core principles of EM, build relationships with students, and prepare them for pursuing EM residency training.

Curricular design: Four EM academic departments collaborated to create and implement a virtual curriculum using the six-step approach to curricular development.

Impact/effectiveness: After completion of the course, five students (100%) reported strongly agreeing with the following statements. These sessions 1) helped me learn the approach to core EM topics more than I would have been able to do on my own; 2) helped me learn key skills for excelling in an EM rotation more than I would have been able to do on my own; and 3) allowed me to connect with faculty and resident mentors to learn more about the field of EM. Of these five students, 80% and 20% reported strongly agreeing and agreeing, respectively, that these sessions helped them learn about the process of applying to and selecting an EM residency program.