Mindfulness and Communication at Center of Patient-Based Training for MS-1s at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU

 FORT WORTH – The seventh cohort of medical students started their unique journey to becoming physicians at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University.

The two-week Introduction to Medicine curriculum at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU  emphasizes a patient-centered approach through communication.

The communication training was a deciding factor in choosing the medical school, said Sereen Osman, MS-1 at Burnett School of Medicine and a Fort Worth native: “This environment is really going to nurture me to grow into the type of physician I want to be.”

Communication training for Burnett School of Medicine students has always been a core piece of the Empathetic Scholar® curriculum. The Physician Communication team has taken it a step further for new medical students by adding more communication sessions during Introduction to Medicine, according to Jo Anna Leuck, M.D., Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Burnett School of Medicine.

This starts with students learning to putting an emphasis on well-being and centering themselves before meeting with patients.

In one of their first sessions together as a class, the medical students began their day in silence.

“I wasn’t expecting to do full meditation techniques,” Osman said. “I really did appreciate it because it shows the school’s dedication to our general well-being.”

The 50-minute session on Mindfulness and the Art of Healing was led by Mark Dennis, Ph.D., Professor of East Asian Religions and Director of the Calm Studies group at TCU’s AddRan College of Liberal Arts. The students also took part in a  Brain Health session designed to help them understand the important role communication plays in maintaining their overall health and wellness.

“It’s not just focusing all on academic success but also managing our stress levels and preventing burnout,” Osman said.

It’s important to give the students these tools before they get overwhelmed, Dr. Leuck added.

“We’re trying to build Empathetic Scholars®,  and we want to get them started on the right foot,” Dr. Leuck said. “These are foundational things students need before they get started in the curriculum.”

INTRODUCTION TO MEDICINE

The unique Introduction to Medicine course explores the flipped classroom and active learning model, exam skills, Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC), along with Physician Communication and wellness. The students also learn about different student resources at TCU.

“This is different from most medical schools in the country,” Dr. Leuck said.  “We don’t have an orientation or welcome week; we’ve actually made this a course.”

The students also learn the three phases of curriculum,  which is different from the traditional academic year model. Phase 1 is 15 months where students learn the integrated foundations of basic and clinical sciences.

Students are also enrolled in five longitudinal courses: Clinical Skills, LIC 1 Foundational Experience, Future Accelerators of Medicine and Beyond (FAB), Scholarly Pursuit and Thesis (SPT) and Preparation for Practice (P4P). They are paired with a preceptor and start seeing patients from their first weeks in school within the LIC model.

Along with incorporating the school’s White Coat Celebration, the course emphasizes the “why” behind this fresh approach to medical education that foregoes lecture-based classrooms.

“I feel like most medical schools would jump right into the lecture portion of it,” said Bjorn Bjornsson, MS-1 at Burnett School of Medicine.

Bjornsson grew up in Iceland and majored in Biochemistry at UCLA as an undergraduate. He said the course gave him a chance to connect with his classmates and faculty at the medical school.

“I went to a big school for undergrad and I felt lost in the masses,” Bjornsson said. “Coming here is a totally different vibe and there’s communal support.”

PHYSICIAN COMMUNICATION

As part of Physician Communication training, students started the day with a card game.

“We’re doing active learning and they presented us with the science and facts of why it will make us better,” said Haya Qaddura, MS-1 at Burnett School of Medicine.

The students randomly selected cards from a deck and placed the cards on their foreheads. They were placed into groups of 12 and told to create a hierarchy for their group based on the cards. No one knew what was on their card, however, they needed to figure out what was on the card based on interactions. What started off as fun quickly became a more reflective exercise.

“It was teaching us how to work as a team,” Qaddura said.

The exercise was meant to give clarity and conviction to how important communication is in a hospital setting, according to Erin Nelson, Psy.D., Assistant Dean of Physician Communication at Burnett School of Medicine.

“Communication isn’t merely a soft skill, it’s clinical,” Dr. Nelson said. “The curriculum is built to teach listening, presence and emotional intelligence.”

RELATIONSHIP-BASED COMMUNICATION

Communication is a huge factor in determining whether patients are satisfied with their physicians, according to a study by National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Students come into these communication sessions learning how to ask patients prevalent questions in the clinical setting, Dr. Leuck said.

The class of 2029 participated in the Academy of Communication in Healthcare (ACH)-Relationship-Based Communication training. The students took part in interactive learning in groups of six.Each exercise had a problem-based scenario involving each student role-playing as a physician and later as a patient. The goal was simple — respond to the patient with empathy.

“I felt like this was a safe space to practice and get authentic feedback from both the instructor and my peers in real time,” Osman said.

Students also did exercises in relationship-centered communication, relational systems theory, skills adapted for leadership, non-violent communication and personal awareness.

“The communication training really humanizes medicine,” Qaddura said.