Leadership Curriculum

Leadership: Building a shared vision by empowering and motivating others to higher and higher levels of achievement in innovation, accountability and performance in the health ecosystem.

By cultivating self-awareness, collaboration skills, feedback agility and more, Dell Med students transform into leaders ready to tackle health care’s toughest challenges. This curriculum fosters a new kind of physician — one driven by the opportunity to inspire and influence other practitioners with the goal of revolutionizing the health care ecosystem.

Characteristics of a Complete Leader: 

1. Honesty/Integrity
2. Openness to Learning and Curiosity
3. Coach-ability
4. Emotional Intelligence
5. Good communicator
6. Resilience and Optimism
7. Creative Confidence

Four Years of Leadership Curriculum

Leadership Year 1: Foundations for Leadership Practice

This course will create a solid foundation in leadership by exposing learners to effective leadership approaches, skills and application exercises. The course content is driven by nationally relevant topics. Topics will include leadership:

• assessment (self and other)
• fundamentals
• philosophy
• skills
• practices
• behaviors

Leadership Year 2: Applications in Leadership Practice

This course will expose learners to concepts related to Health Systems Science and Value-Based Health Care through effective leadership approaches, skills and application exercises. The course content will occur during the Intersessions between clerkships. Designed to create a solid foundation in:

Health Systems Science

• Health care structures and processes
• The changing role of the physician in health care delivery
• Health policy
• Clinical informatics and health information technology
• Population and public health

Value-Based Health Care

• The concept of value and how to apply it in your everyday practice
• The importance of measuring outcomes that matter to patients
• How health care costs are calculated and how they affect patients
• Why medical care should be coordinated around the needs of patients and delivered as a team
• Strategies for leading improvement activities in clinical environments

Leadership Year 3: Service in Leadership Practice

Service Learning: “A teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful […] service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.” -National Service Learning Clearinghouse

“Servant leadership theory contends that a leader’s influence derives from serving the needs of others. Characteristic behaviors of servant leaders include listening, empathizing, accepting stewardship, and actively developing others’ potential.” Greenleaf RK. Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press; 1977.

The foundation of the third year Leadership course is service learning. This course will allow learners to practice serving in leadership positions within the Dell Medical School community, with opportunities for feedback and reflection. The design of this course allows students to practice and demonstrate their personal leadership philosophy in medical education and health systems. The shared student goals for this year are:

Goal 1 – Provide students opportunities to practice leadership within Dell Medical School through service experiences.
Goal 2 – Promote the development of feedback agility through leadership practice.
Goal 3 – Provide opportunities for students to make lasting impacts in the Dell Med community as a servant-leader.
Goal 4 – Use principles of self-directed learning to improve skills in servant-leadership.

Options for Leadership Service
Below are the service opportunities that count towards hours for this course. 

• DOCS Student Mentor
• IPE Student Facilitator
• Lab Student Instructor
• PILLARS Student Facilitator
• Design-Your-Own Leadership Service

Student Quotes After Experiencing This Course:

PILLARS Volunteer:

• "I was able to work on several of my leadership skills and abilities and was also able to see the progress that I have made over the last few years since starting medical school. On top of helping my leadership skills, this has also helped in solidifying my resolve to enter the world of academic medicine as a physician-scientist-teacher."
• "I was reminded that communicating and learning medical information is a complex and iterative processes that requires both route memorization and more importantly, opportunities for integrative experiences. I learned that I am not required to have in depth expertise in all subject areas to effectively facilitate the education of others and that asking thought-provoking questions is more useful than providing bits of knowledge when faced with ambiguity from the group."

IPE:

• "It was fascinating to learn from these IPE sessions as a facilitator and I felt even more engaged this second time around. I hope to take this experience as an indication that I am a lifelong learner and continue to learn from my peers, even when I am given the title of 'leader'."
• "My experience opened my eyes to the joy of teaching. I felt that passion that I’ve heard educators talk about time and time again. There is a certain, incredible feeling that is hard to describe when you are surrounded by others in a room who all share the same common goal as you, to improve patient care, and they are looking up to you for instruction and guidance."

DOCS:

• "While allowing the students to take the lead was an important skill I learned through this course, I have been able to apply other skills into my own practice as a clinician. For example, I now make sure to allow patients to start the conversation by asking them how best we can help them and what they are looking to get out of the appointment. I have found that, similar to in the DOCS course, it allows patients to take control of their visit and health."
• "It was incredible to recognize how much my own clinical skills had grown since my MS1 year, and how they have been shaped and instructed by the patients I have care for, the physicians who I’ve sought to emulate and who have given me feedback, and to understand the world that these skills serve."
• "At times seeing one more commitment show up on my calendar felt overwhelming, but once I got there (either in person or virtually) having an opportunity to get outside myself and focus on being of service was always rewarding and worth the time. Getting to work with the younger class of students was is a nice reminder for me about how much I have grown in the last three years and the confidence that I gained through my experience on clerkships and working with amazing faculty."

Design-Your-Own:

• "This leadership option exposed me to a new world and the most significant skill I learned was the importance of relationship building. Learning how to communicate with others from different backgrounds, make effective points in short timeframes, and making personal connections whenever possible to foster an organic predilection from your audience."
• "Besides the insights that I gained about myself regarding being a leader, I gained a level of patience that I certainly did not have before starting the year. Leadership is about vision and consistent human management. Being able to deal with different emotions, personalities and opinions, while maintaining respect and core values is what it means to be a leader."

Leadership Year 4 = Integrating Leadership, IPE and DOCS (ILIAD)

The goals of this course are to: (1) develop learners’ graduated autonomy in a mentor-supported, self-actuated clinical learning environment through (2) integration of the learnings goals across the three longitudinal courses (DOCS, IPE, Leadership) to (3) crystallize the professional identity of graduating Dell Med students to facilitate the transition into residency. Students accomplish these three goals by engaging and practicing in real clinical settings, NOT a simulated environment.