Dr. Margit Chadwell, left, with Wayne Trained Supervisor Dr. Scott Yaekle, at the first Wayne Trained session in July.
A new coaching-based medical education initiative at Wayne State University School of Medicine, a year in the making, launched last month with the Warrior MD Class of 2028.
Wayne trains is based on the Master Adaptive Learner framework developed by the American Medical Association to support physicians in becoming Master Adaptive Learners – skilled, self-directed, self-regulated, and lifelong learners in the workplace. This novel program will transform the school’s current support model for MD students into a comprehensive and unified experience for optimal learning, personal growth, and professional development.
Wayne trains is led by Senior Associate Dean of Students and UME Initiatives Margit Chadwell, MD, FAAFP and was developed in close collaboration with Anthony Gaynier, Ed.D., Clinical Faculty Learning Skills Specialist in the Office of Learning and Teaching, Associate Dean of Clinical Medical Education Christopher Steffes, MD, and in partnership with the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences.
The initiative is implemented in coordination with the School of Medicine’s eight color-coded Warrior MD Houses and with the support of Eric Ayers, MD, Director of Student Engagement. The houses support and encourage networking, coaching, professional identity formation, and empowerment. Through active and engaged experiences, students experience more meaningful learning, allowing them to engage in earlier clinical reasoning and common issues faced by physicians, particularly in primary care scenarios.
“After many months of preparation, the successful launch of the Wayne trains and coaching program on July 25 was an important milestone in the School of Medicine’s Highways to Excellence MD curriculum and in the realization of the school’s strategic plan,” said Dr. Chadwell. “The individual and collective commitment of our faculty was critical to the resounding success of the event, which received a 95% approval rating from the M1 Class of 2028.”
After an introductory training with Core Associate Dean for Professional Development and Coaching Teena Chopra, MD, MPH, Wayne trains The facilitated student sessions in the Warrior MD houses, where clinical coaches sat alongside established faculty coaches, “firmly anchored this novel dual clinical/coaching program for our M1s,” Dr. Chadwell added. “We expect the work in these dedicated groups to continue across Segments 1 and 2 with our next event on September 5.”
Training “Master Adaptive Learners” is a goal of the school’s undergraduate medical education curriculum and part of the strategic plan of the Dean of the School of Medicine, Wael Sakr, MD.
Wayne Trained Coaches were recruited by Wayne Trained Supervisor and family physician Scott Yaekle, MD, class of 1992, who were clinicians, all graduates of the School of Medicine, who work in family medicine and direct patient care. Dr. Yaekle developed the clinical scenarios with input from fourth-year medical student Logan Thayer and in parallel with clinical skills course content led by Erin Miller, MD.
The task of the trainers is to develop adaptive masters who can recognize when a routine approach is not working and can instead evaluate and adapt it to find new solutions.
“Instead of identifying the problem and offering a solution, the instructors train our students to use this concept to solve their problems while gaining important clinical insights from former clinicians who embody what it means to be trained by Wayne,” said Dr. Chadwell.
Future coaching sessions will cover topics such as professionalism, professional/personal identity formation, medical student performance appraisal writing, academic and career planning. Students may also choose to attend one-on-one coaching sessions with faculty members.
Wayne-trained trainers were trained by certified Master Adaptive Learner trainers Dr. Gaynier and Dr. Chopra. Wayne-trained trainers include Blake Arthurs, MD (Blue House); Carol Baker, MD (Gray House); Jira Coumarbatch, MD (Blue House); Joe Friedli, MD (Yellow House); Jesse Haddad, MD (Purple House); Melissa Jennings, MD (Brown House); Jim Meza, MD, Ph.D. (Green House); Jenese Reynolds-Gibbs, MD (Orange House); and Ali Rida, MD (Red House).
The second phase of the medical education initiative, One Warrior Experience, is scheduled to launch in July 2025.
