Abstract
BackgroundGlobal health educational programs for medical and public health professionals have grown substantially in recent years. The University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine (UICOM) began a global medicine (GMED) program for selected students in 2012 and has since graduated four classes. As part of the four-year curriculum, students complete a longitudinal global health capstone project. This paper describes the global health capstone project as an innovative educational tool within a competency-based curriculum.MethodsThe authors define and describe the longitudinal global health capstone including specific requirements, student deliverables, and examples of how the global health capstone may be used as part of a larger curriculum to teach the competency domains identified by the Consortium of Universities for Global Health. The authors also reviewed the final capstone projects for 35 graduates to describe characteristics of capstone projects completed.ResultsThe global health capstone was developed as one educational tool within a broader global health curriculum for medical students. Of the 35 capstones, 26 projects involved original research (74%), and 25 involved international travel (71%). Nine projects led to a conference abstract/presentation (26%) while five led to a publication (14%). Twenty-one projects (60%) had subject matter-focused faculty mentorship.ConclusionsA longitudinal global health capstone is a feasible tool to teach targeted global health competencies and can provide meaningful opportunities for research and career mentorship. Further refinement of the capstone process is needed to strengthen mentorship, and additional assessment methods are needed.
Highlights
Global health educational programs for medical and public health professionals have grown substantially in recent years
We describe the global health capstone including how the capstone can be used to teach essential global health competencies, and we report on characteristics of the global health capstone for the first 35 graduates of the global medicine (GMED) Program
Retrospective chart review at a hospital in Kenya to identify patterns of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) testing services, which were expanded after the Kenya Ministry of Health developed the Kenya Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Strategic Framework to scale up HIV testing and counseling services based on recommendations from the World Health Organization; the review identified testing barriers and potential testing biases to make recommendations for expanding testing services
Summary
Global health educational programs for medical and public health professionals have grown substantially in recent years. As part of the fouryear curriculum, students complete a longitudinal global health capstone project. This paper describes the global health capstone project as an innovative educational tool within a competency-based curriculum. Participation in global health activities by U.S medical students has grown substantially in recent decades [1]. In resource-limited settings involving different cultures, Chamberlain et al BMC Medical Education (2020) 20:159 political climates, and power dynamics, effective global health practitioners need competence in cultural humility, inter-professional collaboration, ethical conduct, and promotion of health equity. One major challenge is for educators to identify methods to teach these competencies that will enable students to become successful global health practitioners
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