COE Healthcare Policy Course Through HBS

Martina Mustroph, M.D., Ph.D. 

Resident in Neurosurgery 

Brigham and Women's Hospital 

PGY 4

06/08/2021

I enrolled in this course at the recommendation of my coresidents who had taken it last year. In particular, they had stressed that for trainees to have access to some of this country’s experts in healthcare policy is one of the many benefits of training at an academic medical center with affiliated professional schools.

The course was held over zoom, and in my opinion successfully so. I particularly got a lot out of the daily evening hour-long small group discussions, in which 4 of my peers and I would be in an individual zoom room. We would complete the guiding questions pertaining to the day’s reading, but we also informally exchanged our experiences of training in different departments currently or (for fellows) in the past for residency. For instance, a fellow in a related specialty I have worked with closely for the past year spoke candidly about his residency experience as it compares to his current institution.

For me, the course was an excellent way to take a step back and look at the broader healthcare system in the U.S. and abroad. I think this is sometimes hard to remember to do while immersed in training. The course has given me a conceptual framework and vocabulary for assessing healthcare delivery. I am looking forward to my thinking about healthcare being less myopic.