The Community Health Advocacy Initiative: A Longitudinal Experiential Curriculum in Community Engagement for Preclerkship Medical Students

Date of Review: January, 2025

The resource described the design and implementation of The Community Health Advocacy Initiative (CHAI), a yearlong educational program delivered in 2021-2022 to MS2s of Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine. It was designed to teach medical students the knowledge and skills to improve health of patients through collaborations with community partners focused on experiential learning. The curriculum requires dedicated faculty members who have experience in community-engaged health intervention and community-level advocacy, to be mentors to the students. This can be a limiting factor for implementation of other institutions of this model. The authors however included their learning guide and assessments in the paper- tools which can be used by future implementers. The strength of this curriculum is the 1) experiential nature of learning the community’s needs- adequately addressing not only clinical values, but the interplay of SDOH, 2) the hands-on involvement of the faculty with the students through frequent meetings, as well as collaborative interaction with community partners, and 3) allowing the students to see the health of their future patients from the perspective of the community. Major limitations included the time needed for students for this curriculum- while balancing academic duties at the same time. Moreover, the curriculum was not able to evaluate the learners after the curriculum has ended- or in a long term fashion. Lastly, there were a few community projects that were not as immersive to SDOH, and were described to be “limited to the clinical setting”. Because of this, there might have been some confusion about the intersection of the curriculum and quality improvement.  -Shu Garcia, MD, NCEAS

Corresponding Author’s Email:

eanselin@luriechildrens.org

Institution:

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Where was the Curriculum Implemented:

Chicago, Illinois

Relevant Specialty:

Family and Community Medicine

Outcomes that Have Been Reported for the Curriculum:

Measured in learner knowledge

Measured learner behavior in real patient setting

Outcome and Study Design:

Post Only

Level of Learner Assessment

Demonstration of skill with patients in the clinical or community setting (direct observation, 360 assessment, patient surveys)