A novel virtual course to teach medical students high‐value decision‐making

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundAlthough a clinician's ability to employ high‐value decision‐making is influenced by training, many undergraduate medical education programmes lack a formal curriculum in high‐value, cost‐conscious care. We present a curriculum developed through a cross‐institutional collaboration that was used to teach students at two institutions about this topic and can serve as a framework for other institutions to develop similar curricula.ApproachThe faculty from the University of Virginia and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine created a 2‐week‐long online course to teach medical students the fundamentals of high‐value care. The course consisted of learning modules, clinical cases, textbook studies, journal clubs and a competitive ‘Shark Tank’ final project where students proposed a realistic intervention to promote high‐value clinical care.EvaluationOver two‐thirds of students rated the course's quality as excellent or very good. Most found the online modules (92%), assigned textbook readings (89%) and ‘Shark Tank’ competition (83%) useful. To evaluate the student's ability to apply the concepts learned during the course in clinical contexts, we developed a scoring rubric based on the New World Kirkpatrick Model to evaluate students' proposals. Groups chosen as finalists (as determined by faculty judges) were more likely to be fourth‐year students (56%), achieved higher overall scores (p = 0.03), better incorporated cost impact at several levels (patient, hospital and national) (p = 0.001) and discussed both positive and negative impacts on patient safety (p = 0.04).ImplicationsThis course provides a framework for medical schools to use in their teaching of high‐value care. Cross‐institutional collaboration and online content overcame local barriers such as contextual factors and lack of faculty expertise, allowed for greater flexibility, and enabled focused curricular time to be spent on a capstone project competition. Prior clinical experience amongst medical students may be an enabling factor in promoting application of learning related to high‐value care.