Enhanced hospital-based learning at a medical school through application of management principles – a case study

BACKGROUND: A hospital with all its brimming activity constitutes a unique learning environment for medical students. However, to organise high-quality education within this context is a task of great complexity. This paper describes a teaching hospital case, where management principles were applied to enhance the learning quality of medical education. METHODS: Traditional attempts from the faculty had been unsuccessful in improving learning among medical students at a teaching hospital. We therefore applied management principles to be able to improve the learning quality. An evaluation was performed from the perspectives of management (course directors/ heads of health care departments), medical students, and physician supervisors. Presages were defined, including educational resources and management; processes were adjusted, including learning activities and staff schedules; and products were assessed. RESULTS: Charting and benchmarking the use of local educational resources identified unused funding. Structured recurrent collaboration within resource utilization was established between course directors and heads of all concerned health care departments. By formulating a joint agreement, the identified assets were used to reorganise the course, to create constructive alignment, and to increase assigned supervisor time. This resulted in a sustainable improvement of learning quality and culture. CONCLUSION: By using management principles in combination with a scholarship of teaching and learning, it was possible to locate and redistribute educational resources in an effective way. This improved student learning and the learning culture of the health care departments. We propose that such an initiative could also be transferable to other contexts. Faculty leaders facing similar problems should consider the advantages of a structured collaboration with health care department heads.