Beyond the Dual Degree: Development of a Five-Year Program in Leadership for Medical Undergraduates

Abstract

The current state of physician leadership education consists mainly of executive degree programs designed for midcareer physicians. In 2004, the authors proposed that, by educating medical students in physician leadership and integrating this with a business management or public health degree program, graduates, health care organizations, and communities would benefit sooner. Given the lack of program models to guide program integration and development, the authors began a one-year inquiry to build a model leadership curriculum and integrate leadership education across degree programs. The qualitative inquiry resulted in several linked tasks. First, the authors identified a feasible method for concurrently delivering all three program components (MD degree, Leadership Curriculum, and MBA or MPH degree) during a five-year plan. Second, the authors chose a competency-based educational framework for leadership and then identified, adapted, and validated existing leadership competencies to their context. Third, the authors performed an extensive program alignment to identify existing overlaps and opportunities for integration within and across program components. Fourth, the authors performed a needs analysis to identify educational gaps, subsequently leading to redesigning two courses and to designing three new courses. A description of the Leadership Curriculum is also provided. This inquiry has led to the development of the Boonshoft Physician Leadership Development Program, which provides physician leadership education integrated with medical education and education in business management or public heath. Future program initiatives include developing leadership student assessment tools and testing the link between program activities and short- and long-term outcome measures of program success.

Modified Personal Interviews

“…The selection process constituted submission of written materials followed by, for a selected subset of candidates, the MPI process. We derived the attributes of successful LEAD candidates from the literature on leadership 11,12 and through LEAD faculty consensus. These desired attributes were communicated to the pool of potential applicants and blueprinted onto (aligned with) questions asked during the MPI process.…”

Teaching Advanced Leadership Skills in Community Service (ALSCS) to Medical Students

“…One program involves an integrated leadership and medical degree curricula, but this program requires an additional year of training, something most medical schools and medical students are not likely to choose. 22 Another medical school, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, has a program called LOCUS (Leadership Opportunities with Communities, the Underserved, and Special Populations) that seeks to improve medical students' leadership, knowledge, and skills through community service, but the program is not a curricular offering but, instead, a longitudinal, extracurricular activity. 23 Finally, the American Medical Student Association conducts an annual Primary Care Leadership Training Program that focuses on primary care, leadership skills, curricular reforms, and health policy issues, 24 but only a limited number of medical and dental students may attend.…”

Should I get a Master of Business Administration? The anesthesiologist with education training: training options and professional opportunities

“…One study [7] found that medical directors with management degrees were more likely to provide transformational leadership than those without training; however, many indispensable attributes of a good executive such as the ability to listen, communicate and collaborate are intrinsic and hard to teach [8 ].…”