Schweitzer Fellows’ Article Published In Academic Medicine

The Duke Hotspotting Initiative: Providing Meaningful Clinical Experiences and Improving Clinical Readiness for First-Year Medical Students

Academic Medicine: November 2020 – Volume 95 – Issue 11 p 17011-1711

By Bunning, Thomas MD; Goodwin, Matthew MD; Barney, Emily MD; Thakkar, Aarti MD, MPH; Clay, Alison S. MD

The Duke Hotspotting Initiative (DHSI) was launched by 2015 Duke School of Medicine Schweitzer Fellows Jerry Lee and Morgan Hardy as part of their Schweitzer Fellowship. The Fellows led first-year medical student (MS1) teams in a home based visitation program to provide longitudinal care coordination for patients who were high utilizers of the emergency room. Their goals were to improve health outcomes, increase access to community resources, and enhance MS1s skills in motivational interviewing and health behavior coaching. After its first year, DHSI became part of the MS1 curriculum. Subsequent Fellowships were awarded to 2017 Duke School of Medicine Fellow Aarti Thakkar and 2019 Duke School of Medicine Fellow Thomas Bunning (and his Schweitzer partner Sachi Thomas). Bunning, et al., found the DHSI experience has a significant impact on students in preparing them for clinical responsibilities.