LOCUS: Preparing Medical Students for Community Health
Leadership
Goals
Understand the medical, educational, cultural, political and socioeconomic environment out of which the need for LOCUS developed.
Reflect on the concept of leadership and understand the importance of leadership in medicine.
GOALS
Review the LOCUS core curriculum, the program’s structure, its active learning components, and its goals and desired outcomes
Understand the evolution of the program, challenges to its survival, and its growth over time.
LOCUS 1999
CONTEXT
Health system challenges Inequities: access, quality
Escalating costs
Ever expanding knowledge
Medical education Reductionistic, biomedical focus
“Coveritis”, burn out, cynicism
Role of physicians in society
Context continued
Social accountability Physician’s as stewards and servantsResponsibility to society
Leadership for changeEducation for leadershipCommunity of shared valuesMentoring, encouragement and feedback
LOCUS GATHERING 2000
LOCUS
Definition: a place
LeadershipOpportunities with Communities, the medically Underserved and Special populations
LOCUS Logistics
•15 to 18 LOCUS fellows per medical school class
•Each LOCUS fellow:
•Is paired with both a faculty and a student mentor •Participates in approximately 20 hours per year•Completes a community health project
•“LOCUS is for life”
Core CurriculumReadingsRetreats
Workshops
Community Health ProjectsTeams
PartnershipsOutcomes
MentorsSenior StudentsFaculty and Staff
Community Health Professionals
LOCUS Structure
LOCUS Core Content
Introduction to leadership
Leadership and one’s self
Leadership and others
Leadership and communities
Introduction to Leadership
Challenges in health care
Importance of leadership
Leadership styles
Qualities of leaders
Mentors and role models
Leadership and One’s Self
Describe personal mission, goals, prioritiesFind strategies to achieve balance between personal and professional livesSolicit feedbackEngage in self-reflection and self-assessment Adjust goals through career
Leadership and Others
Develop team skills: listening, collaborating, delegating, giving and receiving feedback, acknowledge contributions of others
Lead effective meetings: agendas, keeping on time, summaries, follow-up actions
Identify and address conflicts: understand one’s own responses, mediation skills
Leadership and Health Issues in Communities
Identify local and global health challenges
Recognize complex determinants of health
Reflect on the roles and responsibilities of physicians in improving conditions for health
Leadership and Community Health Methods
Community oriented primary care (COPC)
Evidence-based public health
Ecological models
Logic model
Community health needs assessments
Leadership and Health Activist Skills
Community networking and organizingFund raisingNon-violent protests
Writing skills:Letters to the editorPosition statements
Oral communications:Public speaking, radio and television interviewsTestifying in government hearings
Community Health Service Projects
Conduct community health needs assessments:
Rapid appraisal and surveysKey informant interviews
Access health dataSelect project frameworkConduct projectAssess, present and celebrate outcomes
LOCUS 2000
Evolution and Opportunities
Student Issues
Faculty Issues
School Issues
Sustainability
Student Issues
Interest growing, student applications increasing
Student desire to keep personal and limited in size
Greater interest in self-initiated new projectsIssues of individual vs group projects
Issues of individual interests vs community needs
Faculty Issues
School-based facultyCommunity faculty
TimeValueReward
School Issues
Informal vs formal curriculum
Credit vs No Credit
Recognition for “Honors”
Sustainability
School and Department role
AHEC
Community Partnerships
LOCUS GATHERING 2002