Burnett School of Medicine Students First to Be Trained in National Health Care Program


The Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University and Heroes Active Bystandership launch Heroes for Health Care program.

By Prescotte Stokes III

Photo Credit: Prescotte Stokes III

FORT WORTH – Third-year medical students at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University watched attentively as two of their classmates assumed the roles of physician and medical student on a hospital care team as part of a role-playing exercise.

Justin Choy, MS3, was the medical student and Cort Ewing, MS3, played the physician.

During the role play, Choy had a conversation with Ewing about disparaging remarks the physician made about a Black resident physician’s braided hair.

“I would argue that when you do it in that setting in front of the patients and you kind of put a spotlight on people it can create an uncomfortable culture,” Choy said.

The medical students in the room observed eagerly to hear Ewing’s response as the physician.

“At the end of the day, I can’t control what the patients’ thoughts are,” Ewing said.

The eye-opening exercise was called, “Unsolicited Feedback” and was taken from a real-life incident. It’s part of a new nationally recognized training program called Heroes for Health Care.

Medical students at the Burnett School of Medicine will be the first in the nation to become certified to report misconduct in hospital settings, according to Erin Nelson, Psy.D., Assistant Dean of Physician Communication at the medical school.

“It really creates a formal training to empower people to be able to speak up,” Dr. Nelson said. “Many people have that gut feeling when something is wrong but there are many obstacles in reporting misconduct.”

The program is a collaboration between the Burnett Marion School of Medicine and the Heroes Active Bystandership organization. The eight-hour training sessions will begin for medical students in Spring 2025 with curriculum developed by the medical school. Health care professionals in North Texas will also be able to sign up for training sessions.

“What active bystandership does is create an actual structure where you can contemplate how you might approach and intervene and take that action,” Dr. Nelson said.

Heroes for Health Care is a new medical-focused iteration of peer intervention training that was launched by Heroes Active Bystandership.  Heroes was created by co-founders of Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) who, in conjunction with Sheppard Mullin, developed the program in 2014 to give New Orleans Police Department officers peer intervention skills to help reduce police misconduct.

Following the death of George Floyd in 2020, Georgetown University Law Center partnered with ABLE in 2021 to launch a nationwide program teaching police officers how to intervene when they witness misconduct.

Active bystandership already exists in many settings including health care, according to Abigail Tucker, a Co-Founder of Heroes.

“That environment gives permission to the medical assistants, the attending, the nurse and everybody in that room because we’re all responsible for this patient’s care,” Tucker said.

Heroes for Health Care uses peer intervention training to help healthcare professionals and medical students identify and diffuse misconduct and avoid mistakes in health care settings.

“For a medical student or a health care professional, the stakes are so high because lives are at stake and there is a hierarchy,” Dr. Nelson said.

The training could prevent or stop harm, save lives and careers, and promote healthcare professional health and wellness.

“Whether it’s a mistake or because they are tired and overworked it is essential that folks know how to step in,” Dr. Nelson said.

Participants learn evidence-based ways to intervene through role playing exercises based on real-life cases. The Burnett School of Medicine’s unique Empathetic Scholar® curriculum put an emphasis on communication and patient-centered care.

This innovative approach to medical education coupled with early clinical exposure sets students up to be better advocates for patients and colleagues, Ewing added.

“These training give us opportunities to ask questions of attendings and other team members about how they go about their interactions with others in a way that’s non-judgmental,” Ewing said.

Participants in the training will be given their certification upon completion of the course.

“Our medical students will have these skills to take with them not just in their medical practice but also in their lives,” Dr. Nelson said.