A Community-engaged Curriculum at Alpert Medical School: Centering Patient Communities in Medical Education

BACKGROUNDIncorporating opportunities for community engagement into undergraduate medical education (UME) can help learners to identify and address social determinants of health (SDoH). Multiple challenges exist in operationalizing these experiences. METHODSUsing the Assessing Community Engagement (ACE) model, course directors at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University (AMS) mapped community engagement initiatives to the four-year curriculum. FINDINGSService-learning, community engagement projects, and clinical rotations at health centers and free clinics aim to equip learners at AMS with the necessary skills to address SDoH. Careful consideration should be given to the time and resources required to facilitate relationships with community-based agencies, learner reflection, program evaluation, and community-level outcomes. CONCLUSIONSCommunity engagement activities should be aligned with learning objectives during the pre-clerkship and clerkship stages of the existing UME curricula. Embarking on a curriculum redesign can create opportunities to expand partnerships with local agencies and deepen student engagement.