As a member of the BWH faculty and “The Academy at Harvard Medical School,” hospitalist Charles Morris, MD, heads up a teaching initiative that gives third-year medical students more individual time with teaching physicians and patients. The Academy is a community of HMS faculty recognized for their excellence as teachers and educators that focuses on strengthening the learning environment and improving the teaching of medical trainees at HMS and all of its teaching institutions.
With the help of fellow hospitalist and Academy Scholar Sylvia McKean, MD and Alice Chang, MD, Morris developed this innovative program through feedback from medical students. For the past year, two to five students per month have been participating in this program. Once at the beginning and once at the end of their month-long clerkship at BWH, students meet with the faculty involved to perform observed medical histories and physical examinations on patients. After the exams, students receive constructive feedback directly from the patient on various aspects of their exam including their style of questioning and interpersonal skills.
“We designed this program so that students could have access to more individual time directly with patients and teaching physicians. This modifies the role of the student from observer to participant,” said Morris, who explained that patients provide the most valuable feedback on a physician’s style as a caregiver. Morris also views this initiative as a “pilot” for a model of teaching that could be implemented in a broader scale in future designs of medical education.
“With increasingly busy inpatient services, medical students rarely have the chance to approach patients as “unknowns” and formulate their own assessments independent of the rest of the medical team. Synthesizing the medical history, diagnosis and the treatment plan with the patient as the only source of information takes practice,” said Morris. “The more direct interaction, practice, training and constructive criticism we can give them, the more confident these future doctors will be.”
Morris’ innovative and valuable program exemplifies the potential of The Academy. “The promise of the Academy is to recognize, reward and develop skills of many talented faculty, ultimately for the benefit of medical students,” said Joel Katz, MD, director of Internal Medicine Residency. “Dr. Morris’ project is an example of the win-win-win potential for faculty, students and patients.”
There are 141 members throughout the HMS community including 38 from BWH participating in The Academy.
“We founded The Academy to build a community within a community which enhances the teaching of faculty and gives students the best possible learning experience,” said Jo Shapiro, MD, BWH founding member of The Academy.