BACKGROUND: A novel and comprehensive two-year health policy curriculum was developed and implemented for family medicine residents at two University of Toronto-affiliated teaching sites. AIM: To evaluate the impact of the curriculum on residents' knowledge of health policy issues, and its usefulness to their learning. METHOD: The evaluation included a pre-post delivery assessment of residents' content-based knowledge of issues in the Canadian healthcare system. Residents were also asked to evaluate the content, process and usefulness of the health policy curriculum. RESULTS: At the end, more than two-thirds of residents had a better understanding of the Canadian healthcare system. The overall pre-post scores showed that residents retained content-based facts in some detail. However, more importantly, residents' positive evaluations of the curriculum indicated they were engaged, enthusiastic and recognized its importance for their learning. CONCLUSION: Despite residents' positive evaluations, questions remain as to how best to assess the success of health policy curricula. Moving beyond the popular pre-post test, less traditional approaches might complement standard program evaluation methods in future. As educators increasingly develop curricula aimed at non-biomedical expertise, we must consider how we can most meaningfully evaluate long-term impact on graduates' approach to clinical practice and their engagement in health system advocacy.
BACKGROUND: A novel and comprehensive two-year health policy curriculum was developed and implemented for family medicine residents at two University of Toronto-affiliated teaching sites. AIM: To evaluate the impact of the curriculum on residents' knowledge of health policy issues, and its usefulness to their learning. METHOD: The evaluation included a pre-post delivery assessment of residents' content-based knowledge of issues in the Canadian healthcare system. Residents were also asked to evaluate the content, process and usefulness of the health policy curriculum. RESULTS: At the end, more than two-thirds of residents had a better understanding of the Canadian healthcare system. The overall pre-post scores showed that residents retained content-based facts in some detail. However, more importantly, residents' positive evaluations of the curriculum indicated they were engaged, enthusiastic and recognized its importance for their learning. CONCLUSION: Despite residents' positive evaluations, questions remain as to how best to assess the success of health policy curricula. Moving beyond the popular pre-post test, less traditional approaches might complement standard program evaluation methods in future. As educators increasingly develop curricula aimed at non-biomedical expertise, we must consider how we can most meaningfully evaluate long-term impact on graduates' approach to clinical practice and their engagement in health system advocacy.
Authors: Benjamin A Howell; Ross B Kristal; Lacey R Whitmire; Mark Gentry; Tracy L Rabin; Julie Rosenbaum Journal: J Gen Intern Med Date: 2019-11 Impact factor: 5.128
Authors: Harry J Heiman; L Lerissa Smith; Marissa McKool; Denise N Mitchell; Carey Roth Bayer Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2015-12-23 Impact factor: 3.390