Social Accountability: A Framework for Medical Schools to Improve the Health of the Populations They Serve

Abstract

Social accountability has gained importance and greater acceptance in the ever-increasing complexity and interconnectivity of patient care, education, and research that is the threefold mission of academic health science centers and networks. In this Invited Commentary, the author provides a brief overview of the development of the concept of social accountability and the criteria for the Association for Medical Education in Europe ASPIRE-to-Excellence Award for Social Accountability, which provide a useful framework for medical schools to consider when examining their own social accountability. Per these criteria, schools are expected to document social accountability plans in their organization and functions; document social accountability actions in their education and research program activities; and demonstrate positive impacts of their education, research, service, graduates, and partnerships on the health care and health of their community, region, and nation. Award-winning schools integrate social accountability into the school's mission, planning, and day-to-day management. The health needs and diversity of the school's community, region, and nation are reflected in the school's admissions, curriculum, learning experiences, research activities, health care partnerships, and graduates. The author also describes three award winners as exemplars of social accountability and concludes by challenging every medical school and graduate medical education program to focus on meeting the needs of the populations it serves, especially those who are marginalized, vulnerable, and underserved.

Using Kern’s 6-Step Approach to Integrate Health Systems Science Curricula Into Medical Education

“…61 Several global examples illustrate how to measure the social accountability of medical schools. [62][63][64] Linking such measures to learner activities not only ensures learner professional development but also demonstrates the added value of including even early learners at the clinical and community level.…”

Discussion Paper: Social accountability for students in a machine learning era

“…To create future ready health professionals, we must introduce learning opportunities for ML into health professional curricula, with an emphasis on critical appraisal and equity. Curricula must be developed with input from all relevant stakeholders, including healthcare students, curricular design staff, professional and regulatory bodies, patient groups and field experts (Rourke, 2018). In designing an ML curriculum, it is important to distinguish between information that students need to know and information they need to be aware of (NHS, 2019).…”

Community‐engaged primary care medical education

“…Medical schools can play a vital role in addressing societal inequalities 1 . This has been reinforced by the World Health Organization, who have defined the need for medical schools to be socially accountable as 2

‘ the obligation to direct their education, research and service activities towards addressing the priority health concerns of the community, region, and/or nation they have the mandate to serve’ .

Such a shift requires an institution‐wide approach to transform its management, admissions, curriculum, learning experiences, community engagement and research priorities 3,4 …”

“…Such a shift requires an institution-wide approach to transform its management, admissions, curriculum, learning experiences, community engagement and research priorities. 3,4 The development of socially accountable curricular innovations requires authentic partnership with community stakeholders. Such a community-engaged medical education (CEME) approach has been defined as 5 'activities that directly engage members of a community in their design, conduct and/or evaluation so as to meet the needs of the community in some way and to enhance the experience or outcomes of the learners'.…”