Medical Student Leadership Development through a Business School Partnership Model: A Case Study and Implementation...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Leadership Development
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Academic healthcare requires enhanced leadership training for medical professionals.
• Existing leadership programs often lack alignment with medical school competencies or broad student reach.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of a novel leadership program for medical students.
• To evaluate student satisfaction, program fidelity, and the impact of leadership training on core competencies.

Main Methods:

• A partnership between a School of Medicine and Business School developed the Leadership Initiative (LI).
• The LI program emphasized principles to practice, focusing on self-awareness, communication, and collaboration/teamwork.
• Program outcomes were evaluated using the existing School of Medicine evaluation platform.

Main Results:

• Over 70% of first-year medical students participated in LI offerings between 2017-2020.
• Students reported opportunities to practice self-awareness, communication, and collaboration/teamwork skills.
• Most students found LI offerings aligned with foundational leadership competencies.

Conclusions:

• The Leadership Initiative successfully introduced leadership principles to a large number of medical students.
• Integrating new leadership activities into a dense medical curriculum posed significant logistical challenges.
• While principles were introduced, obstacles remained in participants applying and practicing these leadership skills.