Applying Kern's Six Steps to the Development of a Community-Engaged, Just-in-Time, Interdisciplinary COVID-19 Curriculum

Universities and medical schools often work towards operationalizing their shared mission of facilitating community-engaged work independently. Based on their experience teaching the COVID-19 Elective course at Stanford University School of Medicine, the authors proposed a novel solution for universities and medical schools to achieve an interdisciplinary collaboration within a diverse student population by creating targeted, project-based, and community-engaged courses for addressing emergent health needs. In this article, the authors discuss their curriculum, which was created using Kern's six-step approach for curriculum development, to address emergent health needs related to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The curriculum provides an opportunity for universities and medical schools to advance community health, educate students across the medical and non-medical education continuum, and foster interdisciplinary cooperation.