Integrating Policy and Advocacy in Medical Education

The Urban Medicine Program at University of Illinois at Chicago’s medical school is a special curricular program that aims to prepare physician-leaders to serve underserved urban communities. The program accomplishes this through public health related seminars and a four-year community-based project. During their final year students participate in 2-week policy and advocacy forum that asks them to look beyond their local efforts towards ways to become involved in advocacy efforts and health policy change.

During the first week of the forum students are introduced to skills and tools associated with policy and advocacy, and are asked to apply them towards the development of a policy agenda related to their community site.  Student teams then identify a local or national coalition to support their initiative, and develop a policy tool (e.g. fact sheet) to communicate their agenda.

Each day of the second week highlights a particular issue within the US healthcare system that is currently under transition or reform (e.g. ACA, Medicaid, mental health). An overview of the system is provided, as well as the epidemiology of the issue. Community representatives, physicians, public health faculty, and state and local health department officials use case studies to engage students in interactive workshops. Evaluation of the forum includes pre-/post surveys, focus groups, and assessments by program directors.

This presentation will introduce the audience to the design, implementation, and evaluation of an elective that can serve as an innovative and realistic approach to integrating policy and advocacy into medical school curricula.