In this episode Victoria Brazil speaks with Louise Allen about her recent Medical Teacher publication on Applying Social Learning Theory to explain the impacts of Continuing Professional Development. Her paper, with co-authors Marg Hay, Elizabeth Armstrong and Claire Palermo is an exemplar of qualitative research, and involved semi-structured interviews with previous Harvard Macy and Monash Institute for Health and Clinical Education program participants. The team found that scholars broadened their networks, affirmed themselves, applied learning in practice and enjoyed career progression. The impacts of these courses reached beyond themselves to both the people and organizations with which  they are involved.

Over the past three years, I have immersed myself in leadership development literature related to health systems and health professions education. In my pursuit of a comprehensive leadership framework that encompassed leadership demonstrated at several levels and applied to health care, I came across Dickson & Tholl’s  (2014) “LEADS in a Caring Environment” framework. The recently released second edition Bringing Leadership to Life in Health: LEADS in a Caring Environment expands on the original leadership framework and represents the key skills, behaviors, abilities, and knowledge required to lead in all sectors and all levels of the health system. It provides an in-depth perspective on how LEADS is used in different contexts, including how LEADS relates to diversity and Indigenous cultures. This post highlights the five domains of the LEADS Framework. 

Fall semester is a time for new starts, new students, and new faculty. As we continue to navigate what we do to help our students learn in a virtual environment, how might you apply some of the same approaches to orient new faculty? Consider incorporating some of these ideas:

We work hard to keep our community connected online, and one of our special initiatives is our annual #HMICommunity Day. This year, we celebrate with sincere gratitude to our worldwide community of healthcare professionals transforming education and healthcare delivery during extremely uncertain times.  

Please join us TODAY, August 11th for #HMICommunity Day - a virtual celebration of our worldwide community of practice! As alumni and friends, join us in showing support for our organization by tagging us in a photo and/or message on one of our three social media platforms – Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn – and letting us know what the Harvard Macy Institute means to you. Please tag all messages with our hashtag #HMICommunity, and the hashtag of courses you have attended - #HMIEducators, #HMIAssessment, #HMILeaders, or #HMIHCE.

Thank you for helping us celebrate our worldwide community!

Did you know that the Harvard Macy Institute has a podcast? Episodes hosted by Victoria Brazil have discussed leadership during COVID-19, systems of assessment, and virtual communities of practice.

How does 23-time gold medalist Michael Phelps prepare for an Olympic race, an event so rare it happens only once every 4 years? According to his long-time coach, “He mentally rehearses for two hours a day... He smells the air, tastes the water, hears the sounds, sees the clock.” Can medical trainees do the same? 

With the overall drop in patients, procedures, and hands-on experience in the COVID-19 era, the foundational experiences that comprise the bulk of medical training are becoming rarer. To help remedy this, we need a simple, effective, high-fidelity training tool that can be accessed from the comfort of one’s own socially-isolated home. I suggest we use the highest-fidelity trainer available - the human brain - to train our learners using structured mental practice.