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Service-Learning Module Celebrates Seventeen Years with a New Initiative
on Implicit Bias 

From left: Donna Cameron, PhD, MPH, Debbie Vargas-Collins, MPH, Kim Bullock, MD, FAAFP, GeNita Finley (M2 Student; Second-year School of Medicine Student)
 

            The Service-Learning module, part of the M1 curriculum, challenges first year medical students to understand the social determinants of health in critically underserved areas via engagement with community organizations. Since its inception in 1999 as an elective research compendium, the Module has grown to engage the entire first year class and incorporate over twenty-five partner sites across the DC region.

An Immersive Community Experience
             One of the goals of the Service-Learning program is to reframe the concept of ‘community service’ for recently matriculated medical students. Dr. Kim Bullock, Assistant Director of Service-Learning, explains that “one of the foundational tenets of [the module] is to educate students as to the difference between simply volunteering…and actually participating and being a part of the community.” Students are hosted by one of 27 community sites that serve a variety of populations including those affected by domestic violence, non-native English Speakers, school-aged children, homeless persons, elders, and persons with disabilities. The students work as a group over the course of their first semester to serve in the community. Throughout the course, students working with underserved populations learn they are not simply in need, but are resourceful and resilient within the context of their environment.

             Students deepen their connection to the organizations they serve by engaging in community service projects, interviewing key community stakeholders, engaging in on-site trainings, and implementing health educational initiatives, among other activities. Most importantly, the Service-Learning program provides students with a unique opportunity to reflect and understand the complexities of decisions and outcomes faced by underserved populations apart from the often-cited statistics that frequently marginalize their lives.

             The module helps facilitate the growth of the medical student participants as they work with their community partners.  Dr. Donna Cameron, Module Director, adds that the module “encourages students to reflect over [their service]” via personal and interpersonal reflections throughout and after the months of service.

             A group of students from the 2015 Service-Learning cohort, who engaged with a center that addressed the needs of children with disabilities, were selected to present at a national conference on Health Literacy at Harvard University (Harvard Science Symposium) this past spring.

Harvard Science Symposium (Poster Presentation)

From left: Kim Bullock, MD and Students- Beau Hunsinger, He Zhou, Nazifa Rahman

Families, Disabilities, and Support: Elucidating the challenges and complexities that families with diagnosis of Autism and Special Needs Must Navigate in an Ever Complex Healthcare Environment.  Presented at the New England Science Symposium Harvard Medical School; 2016 April 3; Boston, Mass.

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