AMA grants curriculum efforts to address health disparities
(HealthDay)—Medical schools are beginning to change their curriculum to address ways to eliminate health disparities, according to the American Medical Association (AMA).
Three of the 11 schools that received grants through the AMA's Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative are addressing the unique needs of underserved populations. For instance, Brown University's Warren Alpert Medical School is integrating population health into the curriculum of its newly developed Primary Care/Population Health Program. Students completing the program will earn a dual M.D.-M.S. degree.
The new curriculum at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University emphasizes rural and underserved populations. The program's core curriculum will be expanded to include longitudinal education in quality improvement and population health. In addition to addressing the needs of medically underserved populations, the University of California Davis School of Medicine is working to develop diverse, highly skilled physicians in its model three-year education track, which places an emphasis on workforce diversity and workforce gaps. Its Accelerating Change in Medical Education project is specifically choosing students from economically challenged backgrounds in the hopes that these students will work in underserved communities.
"We believe there is an entirely new set of population health/population medicine knowledge, attitude and skills required by medical students to be able to function in the health care system of tomorrow," Jeffrey Borkan, M.D., chair of the department of family medicine at Brown, said in a statement.
More information: More Information
Copyright © 2014 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
