The AAMC, through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is engaged in a strategic initiative to increase confidence in COVID-19 vaccines and to address medical misinformation and mistrust through health professions education.
Clinicians and learners across the health professions are uniquely positioned to work with their patients and public audiences to address health misinformation. Health care providers are viewed as trusted sources of information and can hold a position of esteem and credibility. This CDC-funded subgrant program supports the initial development of competency-based, interprofessional strategies to mitigate health misinformation and integrate these approaches into new or existing curricula. The goal is for learners in medical, nursing, and pharmacy schools to demonstrate improvements in their capacity to communicate about health information and dispel misinformation, myths, and disinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
The AAMC released a request for proposals and, after a competitive national search and careful consideration by a diverse multi-rater review team, we are pleased to announce the following five Health Professions Education Curricular Innovations subgrantees. The projects selected offer innovative educational approaches and strategies as well as well-developed plans to ensure that the skills gained in the educational program are transferable to various health topics.
Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Project Title: Patients Vulnerable to Misinformation: An Evidence-Based Approach to Address Root Causes Through Medical, Nursing, and Pharmacy Student Training
Project Leader: Samara Ginzburg, MD
Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
Project Title: Addressing Vaccine Misinformation: An Online Motivational Interviewing Module and Telehealth Standardized Patient Exercise to Address Misinformation With COVID-19 Vaccine-Hesitant Individuals
Project Leader: Rebecca Toonkel, MD
Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo
Project Title: Mitigating Medical Misinformation and Mistrust through Effective Team Communication Using Innovative Competency-Based Interprofessional Instructional Design Strategies
Project Leader: Alison Vargovich, PhD
Maine Medical Center/Tufts University School of Medicine — MaineTrack
Project Title: Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Learning: A Novel Training Tool for Addressing COVID-19 Health Misinformation
Project Leader: Jennifer Hayman, MD
The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Project Title: Training Interprofessional Teams to Improve Scientific Communication and Address Health Misinformation in Diverse Communities
Project Leader: Vineet Arora, MD
Contact
For additional information or questions, please contact curricularinnovation@aamc.org.
These projects are funded in part by a cooperative agreement between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) entitled AAMC Improving Clinical and Public Health Outcomes through National Partnerships to Prevent and Control Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Disease Threats (FAIN: NU50CK000586). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The information included in these projects does not necessarily represent the policy of CDC or HHS, and should not be considered and endorsement by the Federal Government.