Medical students engage with medically underserved communities (MUC) and vulnerable populations but often lack preparation to advocate appropriately for these communities. While preclinical programs with an experiential community component effectively increase knowledge about serving MUC, the pandemic limited clinical opportunities in community settings for learners. We examined the impact of a streamlined, hybrid service learning curriculum on first-year medical student attitudes towards MUC and their readiness and interest in addressing health barriers faced by this population. The redesigned curriculum for the student-led program required participants to attend nine virtual seminars led by faculty and community members with expertise serving MUC. Students partnered with one of three community agencies to organize service projects and gain exposure to the life experiences of MUC using virtual and in-person approaches. Of the fifteen first year medical students who participated in the program, positive attitudes were sustained across all scales using the Medical Student Attitudes Toward the Underserved (MSATU) questionnaire after one year. A majority (≥50%) of students reported a large increase in their knowledge of the health challenges faced by underserved populations after each didactic session. Despite the mostly virtual nature of community partnerships, students reported increased confidence in their ability to direct MUC patients to local resources (p < 0.01). The program also had a positive impact on student interest in working with medically underserved patients in the future, with 71% of participants indicating a significant impact on their interest in working in a medically underserved area. Our redesigned elective curriculum provided participants with foundational knowledge to advocate appropriately for underserved populations and demonstrated the efficacy of virtual approaches for community service and service learning. Our findings suggest hybrid and virtual experiential learning opportunities are a viable and non-inferior curricular approach to teaching health equity and community health.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2025 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.