Developing a Community-Centered Curriculum on Social Determinants of Health

Background Inclusion of environmental health (EH) in medical education serves as a catalyst for preparing future physicians to address issues as complex as climate change and health, water pollution and lead contamination. However, previous research has found EH education to be largely lacking in U.S. medical education, putting future physicians at risk of not having the expertise to address patients’ environmental illnesses, nor speak to prevention. Methods Environmental health (EH) knowledge and skills were incorporated into the first-year medical school curriculum at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine (Nutley, New Jersey), via a two-hour interactive large group learning module with follow up activities. Students completed the Environmental Health in Med School (EHMS) survey before and after the year 1 EH module. This survey evaluates medical students’ attitudes, awareness and professionalism regarding environmental health. In year 2, students completed the Environmental Health Survey II, which measured students’ perceptions of preparedness to discuss EH with future patients. The research team created both surveys based upon learning objectives that broadly aligned with the Institute of Medicine six competency-based environmental health learning objectives. Results 36 year 1 students completed both the pre and post EHMS surveys. McNemar’s test was used for paired comparisons. Results identified no statistically significant changes from pre to post surveys, identifying a dramatic ceiling. When comparing year 2, EHS II pre-survey (n = 84) and post-survey (n = 79) responses, a statistically significant positive change in students’ self-reported sense of preparedness to discuss environmental health with their patients following the curriculum intervention was noted. Conclusions Our conclusion for the EHMS in Year 1 was that the current generation of medical students at this school is already extremely aware of and concerned about the impact of environmental issues on health. Through the EHS II in Year 2, we found that the six-week environmental health module combining didactic and experiential elements significantly increased medical students’ self-reported sense of preparedness to discuss environmental health issues, including climate change, with their patients.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The impact of integrating environmental health into medical school curricula: a survey-based study

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…54 Community members can become equal partners in teaching students and faculty members about local experiences and how social determinants of health shape their lives and impact their health. 54 Community members can become equal partners in teaching students and faculty members about local experiences and how social determinants of health shape their lives and impact their health.…”

Section: Domain 3: Communitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Partnerships between communities and academic dental institutions can make an essential contribution to dental students' education in SDH. 54 Community members can become equal partners in teaching students and faculty members about local experiences and how social determinants of health shape their lives and impact their health. Two subdomains in the community domain are community priorities and community engagement, discussed together since they are typically integrated in practice.…”

Section: Domain 3: Communitymentioning

confidence: 99%

An Adapted Framework for Incorporating the Social Determinants of Health into Predoctoral Dental Curricula

Tiwari

Palatta

2019

Journal of Dental Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Social determinants of health (SDH) impact the overall health and well‐being of the entire population. It is imperative to train future health care professionals to develop an understanding of the impact of these determinants, so they can provide contextual treatment more conscious of the culturally, racially, and socioeconomically diverse populations they will care for during their careers. This article, the second in a series of American Dental Education Association Commission on Change and Innovation in Dental Education 2.0 white papers on SDH, introduces a conceptual framework adapted from the original framework presented by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine that can be applied to predoctoral dental curricula. This framework is organized into three domains: education, organization, and community. The domains are explained, and examples of current implementation efforts at several academic dental institutions are provided to help dental educators envision how to incorporate these concepts into their own curricula.

show abstract

“…Other vulnerable populations include the elderly, those with pre-existing health conditions and marginalized populations. Environmental health disparities, therefore, t well under the larger umbrella of social determinants of health, which are garnering increasing attention yet still remain largely omitted from medical school curricula 9,10,11,12 . As part of this effort, the research team created an Environmental Health thread delivered via two-hour interactive large group learning sessions with follow up activities (a six week-long student activity highlighting the ways in which the environment and medicine intersect and then a small group discussion session to process that experience).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Integrating Environmental Health into Medical School Curricula: A Survey-Based Study

Ihde

Kligler

Zipp

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Inclusion of environmental health (EH) in medical education serves as a catalyst for preparing future physicians to address issues as complex as climate change and health, water pollution and lead contamination. However, previous research has found EH education to be largely lacking in U.S. medical education, putting future physicians at risk of not having the expertise necessary to address patients' environmental illnesses, nor speak to prevention. Environmental health disparities fit well under the larger umbrella of social determinants of health, which still remain largely omitted from medical school curricula. Methods Environmental health (EH) knowledge and skills were incorporated into the first-year medical school curriculum at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, via a thread of two-hour interactive large group learning sessions with follow up activities. In year 1, students took the Environmental Health in Med School (EHMS) survey before and after the EH thread. This survey was designed to evaluate medical students’ attitudes, awareness and professionalism regarding environmental health. Results suggested a dramatic ceiling effect on students’ responses to the EHMS survey, making it difficult to detect any change from before to after the intervention. Our conclusion was that the current generation of medical students at this school is already extremely aware of and concerned about the impact of environmental issues on health. Based on the outcomes of the EHMS survey, a new Environmental Health Survey II (EHS II) was created for Year 2, to measure students' perceptions of preparedness to discuss EH with future patients. The two surveys were both created by the research team and designed to help inform subsequent content revisions to ensure learning objectives were met. ResultsResults for the four questions on the EHS II pre-survey (84 respondents) and on the post-survey (79 respondents) showed a statistically significant positive change in students’ self-reported sense of preparedness to discuss environmental health with their patients following the curriculum intervention. ConclusionsA relatively brief six-week environmental health module combining didactic and experiential elements can significantly increase medical students’ self-reported sense of preparedness to discuss environmental health issues, including climate change, with their patients.

show abstract

Developing a Community-Centered Curriculum on Social Determinants of Health

Abstract: The Partnership for Healthy Chicago is a public-private partnership of multi-sector stakeholders, convened by the Chicago Department of Public Health, who are working together to strengthen the public health system.

Cited by 4 publications

References 1 publication

The impact of integrating environmental health into medical school curricula: a survey-based study

The impact of integrating environmental health into medical school curricula: a survey-based study

An Adapted Framework for Incorporating the Social Determinants of Health into Predoctoral Dental Curricula

The Impact of Integrating Environmental Health into Medical School Curricula: A Survey-Based Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About