Assistant Professor of Management Priyanka Joshi developed the first hospitality-focused curriculum for medical students.
Upon noticing that medical clinic complaints were mainly focused on non-medical matters, and not the doctor's knowledge or ability to treat patients, Joshi and her collaborators determined that something was missing from medical curriculum: hospitality.
After extensively researching doctor-patient relationships, analyzing customer experience, and conducting 13 expert interviews with university deans, practicing physicians, and teaching physicians, the team developed a unique syllabus. This innovative curriculum, published in the Journal of Patient Experience, incorporates concepts from service marketing, social psychology and management, and can be implemented in not only medical school, but also nursing and dental programs. “Our curriculum encourages doctors to see themselves as educators, as counselors, as leaders, as people who are not just involved in treating patients but in providing a service to those patients,” Joshi says.
First-year medical students at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada (UNLV) were taught portions of the curriculum in two workshops, and their feedback was rolled into the finalized curriculum. While there are few medical schools with dedicated patient experience programs, she hopes schools incorporate pieces of the hospitality-focused curriculum into their existing programs.