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With previous support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Social Mission Metrics Initiative (SMMI) aims to advance measurement and awareness of social mission in health professions education.
SMMI has far-reaching implications for the promotion of social mission within health professions education. Our research team, working with a national advisory council and multiple external collaborators, created a self-assessment tool for dental, nursing (associate, bachelors, and masters), and medical school leaders to measure and benchmark their school to the primary domains of social mission.
Distribution
In 2019, we sent the self-assessment to nursing, medical, and dental schools across the United States. In the Fall of 2024, we re-asked medical schools to participate.
Recognition
Starting in February 2024, we launched a new way for schools to be recognized for their commitment to measuring social mission using a badge. All medical schools that participated in the Medical 2024 distribution are eligible for a badge.
Domains of Social Mission
Learn about each of the primary domains and action areas of social mission that schools are evaluated on.
Our Mission
The Social Mission Metrics Initiative (SMMI) aims to advance the field of social mission measurement and enhance the national conversation around social mission in health professions education.
Our Work
The Social Mission Metrics Self-Assessment provides a standardized approach to identify the level of engagement of U.S. dental, nursing, and medical schools in social mission activities. The self-assessment identifies domains of social mission, broken further into action areas for evaluation. Participation in this assessment allows school leaders to benchmark their performance to similar schools and national norms and track their progress over time.
Between 2016 to the present, we have conducted pilot testing, field testing, and qualitative interviews with health professions institutions to refine the self-assessment and adapt it with the changing times.
In 2024, we are once again inviting all U.S. based medical schools to use this self assessment to help them move in the direction of enhancing social mission. Schools that participated in 2019 have the unique opportunity to compare their previous scores to current performance, and schools who have never participated before can take advantage of this new opportunity.
SMMI began in 2016 and has progressed through the support of an interdisciplinary National Advisory Committee, literature reviews, and key informants. To date, we have engaged with over 300 health professions schools to assess their social mission status, strengths, areas for improvement, and proficiency.
In 2019, over 240 schools across medicine, nursing, and dentistry used our self-assessment tool to do a through evaluation. Recently, we partnered with the Organization for Associate Degree Nursing and The New York State Action Coalition to expand this tool to include Associate Degree Nursing, and successfully engaged with over 40 programs in 2023.
Publications
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Social Mission Metrics: Developing a Survey to Guide Health Professions Schools (Batra et al., 2020)
- Analysis of Social Mission at Associate Degree Nursing Programs in the United States (Dobkin et al., 2024)
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Analysis of Social Mission Commitment at Dental, Medical, and Nursing Schools in the US (Batra et al., 2022)
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The Scope of Social Mission Content in Health Professions Education Accreditation Standard (Orban et al., 2022)
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Association of the COVID-19 Pandemic With Medical School Diversity Pathway Programs (Batra et al., 2022)
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Driving Toward a Culture Shift: Case Studies of Social Mission in Nursing Education (Faraz Covelli et al., 2022)
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How is the health workforce educated and trained? An examination of social mission in health professions education (Ziemann, Orban, Vichare, & Batra, 2022.)
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Health Workforce for Health Equity (Pittman et al., 2021)
