Preparing Doctors in Training for Health Activist Roles: A Cross-Institutional Community Organizing Workshop for Incoming Medical Residents

Abstract

Introduction Physicians are increasingly being called on to address inequities created by social and structural determinants of health, yet few receive training in specific leadership skills that allow them to do so effectively. Methods We developed a workshop to introduce incoming medical interns from all specialties at Boston-area residency programs to community organizing as a framework for effective physician advocacy. We utilized didactic sessions, video examples, and small-group practice led by trained coaches to familiarize participants with one community organizing leadership skill—public narrative—as a means of creating the relationships that underlie collective action. We offered this 3-hour, cross-institutional workshop just prior to intern orientation and evaluated it through a postworkshop survey. Results In June 2019, 51 residents from 13 programs at seven academic medical centers attended this workshop. In the postworkshop survey, participants agreed with positive evaluative statements about the workshop's value and impact on their knowledge, with a mean score on all items of over 4 (5-point Likert scale, 1 = strongly disagree , 5 = strongly agree ; response rate: 34 of 51). Free-text comments emphasized the workshop's effectiveness in evoking positive feelings of solidarity, community, and professional identity. Discussion The workshop effectively introduced participants to community organizing and public narrative, allowed them to apply the principles of public narrative by developing their own stories of self, and demonstrated how these practices can be utilized in physician advocacy. The workshop also connected participants to their motivations for pursuing medicine and stimulated interest in more community organizing training.

Health Professionals Organizing for Climate Action: A Novel Community Organizing Fellowship

“…7 Marshall Ganz (Harvard Kennedy School) developed a pedagogical framework to teach community organizing 7 that has been taught in the fields of government and business and used effectively to teach health professionals. 8 A critical component of this pedagogy is public narrative, or purposeful storytelling to share personal values that builds relationships. 7 Community organizing training has potential to develop valuable leadership skills in health professionals interested in addressing the impacts of climate change on health and health equity and to address the sense of isolation and demoralization among health professionals concerned about climate change.…”

“…Community organizing is a leadership practice that enables a constituency to mobilize its resources to take collective action through social movement power 7 . Marshall Ganz (Harvard Kennedy School) developed a pedagogical framework to teach community organizing 7 that has been taught in the fields of government and business and used effectively to teach health professionals 8 . A critical component of this pedagogy is public narrative, or purposeful storytelling to share personal values that builds relationships 7 .…”

Advocacy Curricula in Graduate Medical Education: an Updated Systematic Review from 2017 to 2022

“…13 As the last intensive didactic opportunity prior to independent medical practice, the graduate medical education (GME) years present a prime opportunity to teach advocacy. Data suggests that meaningful engagement in advocacy can reinforce physician identity and the choice to practice medicine 8 – 11 , 26 , provide an outlet for stress management 27 , mitigate burnout 7 – 9 , 26 , 28 , and support professional development 29 . Despite increasing recognition of its importance, advocacy education remains elusive and challenging.…”

A case study on the use of Public Narrative as a leadership development approach for Patient Leaders in the English National Health Service

“…A turn should be made to capitalize on the leadership and the opportunities offered day after day by the “lived stories” that all leaders have which are constantly in flux, being reshaped, told and re-told with new episodes and new meanings ( 5 ). Stories have a great potential to extract knowledge for the practice of leadership if cultivated, allowing leaders to learn with intentionality and purpose, and being sources of meaning, thus better preparing them to inform future horizons, and face the “unknowns” that can emerge ( 6 ). This way, in this study we analyse a pilot initiative conducted with one cohort of Patient Leaders, the Chairs of local MVPs in South East of England, and how they have used the Public Narrative framework to enhance their effectiveness in leading transformation in maternity services as part of the NHS Maternity Transformation Programme.…”