New grant to aid transformation of physician training

A transformation is underway for medical education as a progressive initiative advances its work to create the medical school of the future. As many as 20 additional MD- and DO-granting med schools will join in this effort, implementing bold projects with a new funding opportunity from the AMA.  

The AMA has partnered since 2013 with 11 leading medical schools as part of its Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative, which provided $1 million grants to each school to help fund novel programs that bridge the gap between how physicians are currently trained and the future needs of our health care system.

These 11 schools, the founding members of the Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium, are making significant strides in reshaping medical education.

The AMA now is inviting additional schools to apply to join the consortium and work together with the founding 11 schools to share innovative ideas and best practices on new programs and curricula.

Schools interested in applying should have the capacity to adopt, implement and build on the innovations that have emerged from the founding members of the Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium or have their own unique projects for promoting systemic change in undergraduate medical education that they are interested in sharing with both new and founding consortium members.

Proposals may fit one of six consortium themes: 

• Developing flexible, competency-based pathways: Learn how several consortium schools are reshaping competency-based assessments.
• Teaching and/or assessing new content in health care delivery sciences: Review the creative innovations consortium schools are adopting around this new core science.
• Working with health care delivery systems in novel ways: Find out how one consortium school prepares future physicians to practice complex patient care.
• Making technology work to support learning and assessment: Get expert insights into health IT from a recent consortium meeting on informatics.
• Envisioning the master adaptive learner: Here’s how consortium schools plan to incorporate lifelong learning into the undergraduate medical education curriculum.
• Shaping tomorrow’s leaders: Read about one consortium school’s creative approach to shaping future physician leaders.

Projects that do not fit one of these themes but add value to the consortium will be considered.

“In such a short amount of time, our consortium schools have made impressive strides toward creating the medical school of the future,” AMA President Steven J. Stack, MD, said in a news release. “Many of the schools have already implemented new curriculum models that are supporting innovative training for 7,000 medical students who will one day care for more than 12.2 million patients each year.”

“It is because of this tremendous progress that we’ve decided to collaborate with more medical schools and continue on the path to spreading innovation across the entire medical education system to close the gaps that exist between the way physicians are educated and how health care will be delivered in the future,” Dr. Stack said.

Up to 20 schools will be selected to receive three-year grants based on innovation education projects underway at their local institutions. Starting Jan. 1, each school will receive a grant award of  $75,000 disbursed over the course of three years.

Participating schools will select principal investigators to attend two consortium meetings for each year of the grant, participate in several thematic meetings and participate in national evaluation activities.

Such events aim to give schools the chance to design real solutions in collaborative settings.

“Bringing systemic change to our medical education system as we know it will require many more partners and many more schools,” said Susan E. Skochelak, MD, AMA Group Vice President for Medical Education. “We are excited about the high level of interest that we’re seeing from medical schools for changing and enhancing medical education in our country, and look forward to growing the community of innovation that we’ve created with new ideas and fresh perspectives from additional medical schools.” 

Proposals are due Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. Eastern time, and schools will be notified of their acceptance Oct. 30.

• Find out what the consortium is looking for in this year’s applicants, then submit a proposal for consideration.
• Learn more about the 11 medical schools in the Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium and the current projects they have underway.
• Review the consortium application FAQs.