Sevicio de aprendizaje

Building and Sustaining Community Health Partnerships

El curso longitudinal de aprendizaje-servicio de cuatro años de la Facultad de Medicina Albert Einstein es fundamental para nuestra misión de promover la participación comunitaria. Todos los estudiantes del programa de Medicina y del programa dual de Medicina y Doctorado participan en este curso, que fomenta la colaboración significativa con organizaciones comunitarias que prestan servicios al Bronx y a las comunidades aledañas. Los estudiantes aprenden sobre la historia, las necesidades y las fortalezas del Bronx, participan activamente en servicio comunitario con organizaciones locales y participan en un currículo dedicado a la reflexión crítica, impartiendo los conocimientos, las habilidades y las actitudes necesarias para colaborar con éxito en las organizaciones comunitarias. El curso de aprendizaje-servicio de Einstein se centra en el desarrollo y mantenimiento de las alianzas comunitarias. Todas las actividades de servicio se desarrollan con socios comunitarios según las necesidades identificadas por la comunidad.

Interwoven into the medical school curriculum, the service-learning course offers students structured time to prepare for, reflect on, and connect their service-learning experiences to professional competencies, such as cultural humility, professionalism, communication, teamwork, and social responsibility. The service-learning course centers the importance of how understanding the impact of social and structural determinants of health shape and inform a physician’s ability to provide patient-centered care with cultural humility. Our students learn, share, and nurture the skills needed for their roles as future physicians, physician–scientists, and compassionate professionals working in our ever-expanding communities in the Bronx, across the country, and abroad.

Goal and Vision

Our goal is to instill social responsibility into future physicians during their formative years, allowing them to immerse in the community to deepen their understanding of community resources and the social and structural determinants of health, as well as to cultivate relationships between Montefiore Einstein and the community it serves. Our vision is that students who graduate from Einstein will become physicians who demonstrate cultural humility and social responsibility, who understand and apply their knowledge about social and structural determinants of health to improve patient care, and who consistently engage in self-reflection with a growth mindset.

Service-Learning Curriculum

During the first year of medical school, Einstein M.D. students and dual M.D./Ph.D. students participate in a lottery and are matched with one of 40 community-based organizations in 13 focus areas that align with their personal and professional interests.

Students work in teams to complete 40 hours of service with their community-based organization over one year during the preclerkship phase of the M.D. curriculum. The end of the preclerkship phase culminates in a final handoff presentation, where second-year M.D. students share successes, lessons learned, and reflections about their year of service, passing information to the incoming first-year medical students who will sustain the service initiatives.

During clerkship year, all students prepare and implement a community health fair in collaboration with our community partners and complete an additional 20 hours of independent service. Students also have opportunities for service electives and additional community engagement during the professional development phase of the M.D. curriculum, including applying for the prestigious group Einstein Senior Leaders in Advocacy and Community Service. In total, all students complete a minimum of 60 hours of service across the four-year M.D. curriculum.