Abstract
In this article, the author explores a model of alternative medical education being pioneered at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. The five-year Global Health Fieldwork Fellowship (GHFF) track allows two students per year to complete an extra year of medical education while living and working in a free rural clinic in the jungle lowlands of Bolivia. This alternative curricular track is unique among other existing models in that it is (a) longitudinally immersive for at least one full additional year of medical education, (b) grounded in clinical and service learning, and (c) heavily focused upon global health and the social components of medicine. Studies have shown that both longitudinal alternative medical curricular tracks and short-term global health electives have long-term benefits upon the professional development of participants, suggesting that the GHFF is likely to do the same. The author also argues that the GHFF is an advantageous model of global health education compared to standard offerings and provides a unique curricular model by which to foster the development of social values—such as professionalism, advocacy, and social justice—that are widely considered lacking in today’s medical education.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Medical Association. 2015 Accelerating Change in Medical Education: Creating the Medical School of the Future. Chicago, IL: American Medical Association.
Aulakh, A., S. Tweed, J. Moore, and W. Graham. 2016. “Integrating Global Health with Medical Education.” The Clinical Teacher 13:1-5.
Belling, C. 2010. “Sharper Instruments: On Defending the Humanities in Undergraduate Medical Education.” Academic Medicine 85 (6): 938-940.
Bleakley, A. 2012. “The curriculum is dead! Long live the curriculum! Designing an Undergraduate Medicine and Surgery Curriculum for the Future.” Medical Teacher 34:543-547.
Bruno, DM., and PJ Imperato. 2015. “A Global Health Elective for US Medical Students: The 35 Year Experience of the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, School of Public Health.” Journal of Community Health 40:187-198.
Charon, R. 2010. “Calculating the Contributions of Humanities to Medical Practice—Motives, Methods, and Metrics.” Academic Medicine 85 (6): 935-937.
Cooke, M., DM. Irby, W. Sullivan, and KM. Ludmerer. 2006. “American Medical Education 100 years after the Flexner Report. NEJM 355:1339-1344.
Doukas, DJ., DG Kirch, TP Brigham, BM Barzansky, et al. 2015. “Transforming Educational Accountability in Medical Ethics and Humanities Education toward Professionalism.” Academic Medicine 90 (6): 738-743.
Edwards, R., J. Piachaud, M. Rowson, and J. Miranda. 2004. “Understanding Global Health Issues: Are International Medical Electives the Answer?” Medical Education 38:688-690.
Farmer, P. and Gutiérrez, G. (2013). In the Company of the Poor: Conversations with Dr. Paul Farmer and Fr. Gustavo Gutiérrez. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Flexner, A. 1925. Medical Education: A Comparative Study. New York: MacMillan.
George, P., EP. Green, YS. Park, and PA. Gruppuso. 2015. “A 5-Year Experience with an Elective Scholarly Concentrations Program.” Journal of Medical Education Online 20:29278.
Gonzalo, JD., P. Haidet, KK Papp, DR Wolpaw, et al. 2015. “Educating for the 21st Century Health Care System: An Interdependent Framework of Basic, Clinical, and Systems Sciences.” Academic Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000000951.
Hamilton, A. 2011. “Trial-by-Fire: Training New Medical School Students as EMTs.” Time. July 22.
Ibrahim, GM., S. Hoffart, RA. Lam, EP. Minty, MT. Ying, and JP. Schaefer. 2014. “Think Global, Act Local: Medical Students Contextualize Global Health Education.” Education for Health 27 (1): 55-58.
Inui, TS. 2003. A Flag in the Wind: Educating for Professionalism in Medicine. Washington DC: AAMC.
Irby, DM., M. Cooke, and BC. O’Brien. 2010. “Calls for Reform of Medical Education by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: 1910 and 2010.” Academic Medicine 85:220-227.
Jeffrey, J., RA. Dumont, GY. Kim, and T. Kuo. 2011. “Effects of International Health Electives on Medical Student Learning and Career Choice.” Family Medicine 43 (1): 21-28.
Kidd, MG., and JTH Connor. 2008. “Striving to Do Good: Teaching Humanities in Canadian Medical Schools.” Journal of Medical Humanities 29:45-54.
Ko, M., RA. Edelstein, KC. Heslin, S. Rajagopalan, et al. 2005. “Impact of the University of California, Los Angeles/Charles R. Drew University Medical Education Program on Medical Students’ Intentions to Practice in Underserved Areas.” Academic Medicine 80 (9): 803-808.
Laskowitz, DT., RP. Drucker, J. Parsonnet, PC. Cross, and N. Gesundheit. 2010. “Engaging Students in Dedicated Research and Scholarship During Medical School: The Long-Term Experiences at Duke and Stanford.” Academic Medicine 85 (3): 419-428.
O’Brien, BC, and DM. Irby. 2013. “Enacting the Carnegie Foundation Call for Reform of Medical School and Residency.” Teach and Learn in Medicine 25 (S1): S1-S8.
O’Neil, E. 2006. “Medicine and Society: The ‘Ethical Imperative’ of Global Health Service.” AMA Journal of Ethics 8 (12): 846-850.
Page, T. 2013. “Bring Global Health and Global Medicine Home.” Academic Medicine 88 (7): 907-908.
Parsi, K, and J. List. 2008. “Preparing Medical Students for the World: Service Learning and Global Health Justice.” Medscape Journal of Medicine 10 (11): 268.
Peluso, MJ., B. Seavey, G. Gonsalves, and G. Friedland. 2013. “An Inter-Professional ‘Advocacy and Activism in Global Health’: Module for the Training of Physician-Advocates.” Global Health Promotion 20 (2): 70-73.
Polianski, IJ., and H. Fangerau. 2012. “Toward ‘Harder’ Medical Humanities: Moving Beyond the ‘Two Cultures’ Dichotomy.” Academic Medicine 87:121-126.
Provenzano, AM., LK. Graber, M. Elansary, K. Khoshnood, A. Rastegar, and M. Barry. 2010. “Short-Term Global Health Research Projects by US Medical Students: Ethical Challenges for Partnerships.” American Journal of Tropical Medicine 83 (2): 211-214.
Sanson-Fisher, RW., N. Williams, and S. Outram. 2008. “Health Inequalities: The Need for Action by Schools of Medicine.” Medical Teacher 30:389-394.
Shah, S., and T. Wu. 2008. “The Medical Student Global Health Experience: Professionalism and Ethical Implications.” Journal of Medical Ethics 34:375-378.
Slavin, SJ., L. Hatchett, JT. Chibnall, D. Schindler, and G. Fendell. 2011. “Helping Medical Students and Residents Flourish: A Path to Transform Medical Education.” Academic Medicine 86 (11): e15.
Stoltenberg, M., N. Rumas, and K. Parsi. 2012. “Global Health and Service Learning: Lessons Learned at US Medical Schools.” Medical Education Online 17:18848.
Stys, D., W. Hopman, and J. Carpenter. 2013. “What is the Value of Global Health Electives during Medical School?” Medical Teacher 35:209-218.
Thompson, MJ., MK. Huntington, DD. Hunt, LE. Pinsky, and JJ. Brodie. 2003. “Educational Effects of International Health Electives on U.S. and Canadian Medical Students and Residents: A Literature Review.” Academic Medicine 78 (3): 342-347.
Vanderbilt, AA., RF. Baugh, PA. Hogue, JA. Brennan, and II. Ali. 2016. “Curricular Integration of Social Medicine: A Prospective for Medical Educators.” Medical Education Online 21:30586.
Westerhaus, M., A. Finnegan, M. Haidar, A. Kleinman, J. Mukherjee, and P. Farmer. 2015. “The Necessity of Social Medicine in Medical Education.” Academic Medicine 90 (5): 565-568.
Zanetti, ML., MA. Godkin, JP. Twomey, and MP. Pugnaire. 2011. “Global Longitudinal Pathway: Has Medical Education Curriculum Influenced Medical Students’ Skills and Attitudes toward Culturally Diverse Populations?” Teach and Learn in Medicine 23 (3): 223-230.
Acknowledgements
The author expresses gratitude to the following individuals and institutions for granting him the opportunity to broaden his medical education in unique and meaningful ways: the Global Health department at Loyola University of Chicago SSOM; Dr Kayhan Parsi, Ms Nanette Elster, and the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics; Dr. Carlos Vargas and the staff at CMHP; Dr. Lila Glotfelty; and to Dr. Susan Hou, and Dr. Mark Molitch.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Borah, B.F. Longitudinal Service Learning in Medical Education: An Ethical Analysis of the Five-Year Alternative Curriculum at Stritch School of Medicine. J Med Humanit 39, 407–416 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-018-9529-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-018-9529-x