A hybrid educational approach to service learning: impact on student attitudes and readiness in working with medically underserved communities

Abstract

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.

Students’ Perspective on Hybrid Learning After the Covid-19 Break : A Learning Reflection Through Photovoice

“…In addition, they can learn the material clearly, and there are no gaps in getting information. This finding contrasts with Suresh et al (2022) research finding who found that hybrid learning can help students more easily understand the difficulties MUCs (medically underserved communities) encounter and more self-assurance while dealing with MUCs in a clinical setting.…”

“…Additionally, hybrid learning has been proven to be conceptually sound and valuable in a variety of cross-disciplinary, institutional, and informal learning contexts (Alnajdi, 2014). Suresh et al (2022) provided a hybrid curriculum concept, successfully preserving favorable sentiments about the underprivileged for over a year. First-year medical students reported having a better understanding of the difficulties MUCs encounter and more selfassurance while dealing with MUCs in a clinical setting.…”

Implementation of Hybrid Education in Peruvian Public Universities: The Challenges

“…Hybrid education requires curricular plans to be redesigned to have a positive impact and achieve teaching and learning outcomes [35]. The simple substitution of teaching tools may not effectively facilitate student learning and participation, so the hybrid approach may have results only in small groups.…”

Curricular Interventions in Medical Schools: Maximizing Community Engagement Through Communities of Practice

“…41 Lack of access to care and lack of trained clinical staff to treat patients with compassion are some of the gaps identified in the care provided to these populations. 42 The unmet health needs of vulnerable populations warrants foundational knowledge acquisition by students through participation in specifically designed experiential community components in the medical education curriculum 43 that include community outreach and health education programs. 40 The purpose of this article was to review the various CoP-led activities at NCMEDR with implications for developing a curricular framework and processes for addressing the needs of vulnerable populations.…”