About

What does working in healthcare mean? What skills does a health professional need to bring to the table? Scientific acumen? Emotional relatability? Are pre-health students taught these skills in their education? These were questions posed by undergraduates in the Science and Technology Honors Program at UAB. Tasked with designing a project to address issues in science, these students chose to tackle the topic of gaps in the pre-health curriculum. They found that while students were exposed to strong academic material, active shadowing, and community volunteering, there was little opportunity to apply diagnostic skills and bedside manner to a patient. The lack of this integral aspect of healthcare in their education led them to create a pre-health competition called Dare to Diagnose. Students would take an online examination testing their ability to diagnose a patient in a case study. Then, they would get to interact in-person with standardized patients. These standardized patients are actors trained to work with medical and nursing students to simulate realistic check-up and follow-up appointments.

The first iteration of this competition ran in the spring of 2018 with a theme of neurology. The following year, Dare to Diagnose 2019 was produced, this time focusing on pediatrics. A mini-tournament, returning once more to neurology, was held during the summer of 2019 and featured competitors from across the country. Our fourth iteration will begin in 2020 with the theme of rural medicine. We plan on continuing on our mission to educate future health professionals about the roles they may fill in the future and what those roles may entail. By teaching pre-health students about empathy in healthcare, we hope to build a workforce where patient/professional trust is strong.