Foundational aspects of Learning Communities at JABSOM: Insights from the 2024 graduating class
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2025
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Background:
The John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, launched our Learning Communities (LC) program in July 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic. With Hawaii’s increasing physician shortage and higher demands on health care providers, burnout and withdrawal are becoming increasingly prevalent. While many medical schools across the country have already implemented some form of a learning community, JABSOM’s program demonstrates a strong commitment to our diverse communities while enhancing the training of the physicians who will be caring for these communities. By promoting a safe and supportive environment focused on collaboration and wellness, the program aims to enhance students’ medical school experience, increase resiliency, decrease burnout, and better equip students for the future of medical practice in Hawaiʻi. Learning within these small longitudinal groups allows students to build meaningful relationships and to improve wellness, teach empathy, and develop their professional identity.
Methods:
The 2024 graduating class was the first class to participate in the Learning Community program throughout their entire time at JABSOM. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the LC program in this class with a focus on wellness, empathy, and professional identity formation. The methods of this study involved the distribution of an anonymous survey to medical students following the completion of the 2023-2024 year. The survey consisted of 5 point likert scale questions to measure the perceived impact of the LC program and faculty mentors on student well-being, understanding of empathy, and development of professional and clinical skills as a physician. Additionally the students were asked to provide qualitative comments on the impact of the program on wellness and empathy and their top highlights. The qualitative data collected from these responses were analyzed to extract themes.
Results:
For the 2023-2024 year, 62 of 77 (80%) students completed the survey.
Ninety-four (94%) agree (strongly agree or agree on the 5-point likert scale) LCs positively impacted their wellbeing and 99% agree it helped them realize the importance of wellness and its impact on their personal and professional life. Students said LCs ""were absolutely fundamental to (their) wellbeing” and “provided a smaller group to grow with throughout (their) four years.”
Ninety-five (95%) agree LCs helped them demonstrate and understand empathy with their patients. Comments indicated a positive impact: “Throughout medical school these sessions on soft skills are the only times I have had faculty discuss with us the importance of empathy and how to navigate difficult situations with patients.”
Ninety-seven (97%) agree LCs helped them understand the professional responsibilities of physicians. Ninety-nine (99%) agree the LC mentors strengthened their professional identity formation.
Discussion:
The findings of this study suggest that the LC program overall has had a significant impact on student wellbeing, empathy, and professional identity formation. Select comments expressed mixed reviews regarding the impact of specific activities on student wellbeing, with most concerns regarding the length of the scheduled activities. While most of the class agreed with statements that LCs helped them foster empathy with their patients, about 10% of the qualitative comments described little to no change in empathy from the program. One limitation is that this study did not include a comparison group of students who were not a part of a learning community.
With the 2024 graduating class entering medical school at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, JABSOM’s LC program played an integral role in their transition to medical school. For many students, their learning community was their entire social and academic group during their first year. The program creates a crucial connection between students and their peers and faculty, as well as the community that they intend to practice in. “(LCs) enabled me to see that my own perceived weaknesses and worries are often shared by my peers. It made me feel I'm not alone and enabled me to appreciate the fears, joys, and vulnerabilities that tie us all together.”
Conclusion:
This survey provided a cumulative look at JABSOM’s Learning Community program from the first graduating class to participate in the program for all four years of medical school. Overall, students in this class overwhelmingly agreed that the LC program had a positive impact on their wellbeing in medical school, their understanding of empathy, and the development of their professional identity as physicians. The longitudinal relationships and deeper sense of community fostered by JABSOM’s LC program allow students to build deeper physician-patient and physician-community connections that are crucial to increasing physician satisfaction and reducing burnout in the long run. Ultimately, the Learning Communities program at JABSOM will continue to provide an important element of human connectivity to medicine in Hawaii.
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