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First Into the Lifeboats: Protecting Medical Student Education During the Hahnemann University Hospital Closure
Valerie D Weber1, Dana C Farabaugh2, Amy C Fuchs3
1V.D. Weber was senior vice dean for educational and academic affairs and professor of medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the time of writing. The author is dean, Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.
Insights
The closure of Hahnemann University Hospital disrupted medical education. Planning and crisis management ensured continuity for Drexel University medical students, offering lessons for academic health systems facing training site shortages.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Academic Health Systems
- Healthcare Management
Background:
- Hahnemann University Hospital, a long-standing medical education site since 1885, closed in June 2019.
- The closure significantly impacted residents, fellows, patients, faculty, and staff.
- This event highlighted challenges for medical student training sites within academic health systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To detail the planning and crisis management strategies implemented to safeguard medical student education.
- To share lessons learned from the Hahnemann University Hospital closure for other academic institutions.
- To address the diminishing availability of clinical training sites for health professions students.
Main Methods:
- Documenting pre-closure planning and in-crisis actions.
- Analyzing the impact on third- and fourth-year medical student rotations at Drexel University College of Medicine.
- Identifying transferable strategies for maintaining educational continuity.
Main Results:
- Educational experiences for Drexel University medical students were successfully protected during the hospital closure.
- Proactive planning and adaptive crisis response were crucial for educational continuity.
- The strategies employed offer a model for managing similar disruptions.
Conclusions:
- Effective crisis management can preserve medical education despite clinical site closures.
- Academic health systems must develop resilient strategies to address the declining number of training sites.
- Lessons from Hahnemann's closure are vital for navigating future healthcare ecosystem challenges, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abstract:
The announcement of the closure of Philadelphia's Hahnemann University Hospital in June 2019 sent shock waves through the academic community. The closure had a devastating impact on the residents and fellows who trained there, the patients who had long received their care there, and faculty and staff who had provided care there for decades. Since its beginnings, the hospital, established as part of Hahnemann Medical College in 1885, was a major site for medical student education. The authors share the planning before and actions during the crisis that protected the educational experiences of third- and fourth-year medical students at Drexel University College of Medicine assigned to Hahnemann University Hospital. The lessons they learned can be helpful to leadership in academic health systems in the United States facing a diminishing number of clinical training sites for medical and other health professions students, a situation that is likely to worsen as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to weaken the health care ecosystem.