University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Pediatrics; Office of Faculty Affairs; Office of Undergraduate Medical Education; Department of Medicine
Publication Date
2019-12-13
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Medical Education
Abstract
Introduction: Leadership is an area of education and training that is critical to the development of medical providers as health care professionals, yet few medical school curricula offer formal training in this area.
Methods: We designed and implemented a course to develop and enhance the leadership and teamwork skills of first-year medical students to better prepare them for medical practice. Following a systematic literature review to identify leadership core competencies, the Leadership in Medicine Optional Enrichment Elective (OEE) was developed in accordance with the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s course guidelines. The elective included six interactive sessions to advance skills in the areas of recognizing and utilizing effective leadership styles, communication within the health care team, giving and receiving feedback, delegating responsibilities, and direction setting. We designed a robust, evidence-based, scholarly evaluation plan for the OEE that was integral to ongoing quality improvement of the course.
Results: Outcomes were assessed in alignment with the Kirkpatrick method of standardized evaluation. A total of 26 participants completed the course. At completion, participants demonstrated learning and advancement of skills in all five leadership domains. Furthermore, participants found meaning in the course and planned to utilize their skills in future medical practice.
Discussion: The development, implementation, and evaluation of this program can serve as a model for future course development, and the program can be adapted and implemented by other institutions in an effort to address the learning gap regarding leadership education.
Keywords
Teamwork, Leadership, Program Evaluation, Leadership Training
Rights and Permissions
Copyright © 2019 Richard et al. This is an open-access publication distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license.
DOI of Published Version
10.15766/mep_2374-8265.10863
Source
Richard K, Noujaim M, Thorndyke LE, Fischer MA. Preparing medical students to be physician leaders: a leadership training program for students designed and led by students. MedEdPORTAL. 2019;15:10863. https://doi.org/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.10863
Journal/Book/Conference Title
MedEdPORTAL
Repository Citation
Richard K, Noujaim MG, Thorndyke LA, Fischer MA. (2019). Preparing Medical Students to Be Physician Leaders: A Leadership Training Program for Students Designed and Led by Students. University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications. https://doi.org/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.10863. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/faculty_pubs/1652
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Zip file of course materials
Comments
Appendices of the course materials are available for download as an additional file. To view all publication components, extract (i.e., unzip) them from the downloaded .zip file.