Community Engagement Enriches Medical Training, Article Shows

HMSOM faculty publish infographic paper showing a community focus enhances medical education outcomes and patient care

A new publication in the journal Academic Medicine—authored by Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine (HMSOM) faculty—emphasizes the importance of incorporating community-engaged medical education (CEME) into medical school curricula.

The study entitled “Transforming the Ecosystem of Medical Education: Community-Engaged Medical Education (CEME),” appeared as the “Last Page” feature in Academic Medicine, and is authored by HMSOM faculty Carmela Rocchetti, M.D., Christopher Duffy, MLIS, AHIP, Robin O. Winter, M.D., MMM, and Miriam Hoffman, M.D.

Sharing this work as an Academic Medicine “Last Page” provides the national and international medical education community with a foundational resource demonstrating the importance of and key implementation features of CEME, according to the authors.

The paper shares that social and behavioral factors drive up to 80 percent of health outcomes.

Employing CEME addresses these factors by integrating experiential service-learning, social determinants of health, and meaningful community engagement into medical training. This approach fosters critical thinking, problem-solving, leadership skills, and a greater awareness of social determinants of health among future physicians.

Key takeaways from the authors' experience include the necessity of a culture change to establish CEME as a curriculum's foundation, the complexity of engaging communities and building trust, the need for new assessment and evaluation methods, and the importance of integrating CEME into patient care responsibilities.

The authors define CEME by focusing on community-driven priorities, trusting partnerships, institutional support, and curriculum design.

Material for the study was provided organically via HMSOM’s Human Dimension program, a CEME curriculum which has connected med students with the community to address factors impacting healthcare since the HMSOM opened in 2018.

Having steadily expanded over the past seven years, the Human Dimension program involves more than 300 community partners and has held about 250 outreach events since 2022. Benefactors have supported the program's growth, which includes community immersion projects, health fairs, and a social determinants of learning summit.