Microcredentials Are Gaining Traction: Are There Implications for Undergraduate Medical Education?

Lois Margaret Nora, MD, JD, MBA

In my conversations with medical students, one theme that commonly emerges is their desire to stand out during the rigorous residency application process. For many years, United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 scores provided one way of doing so. However, when Step 1 scoring shifted to a pass-fail framework, students became increasingly interested in alternatives. Concurrent degree programs, community initiatives, and research projects can help, but these options are not always practical or available, and demand for such opportunities can place substantial pressure on medical schools.

Microcredentialing, a smaller-scale offering that is gaining traction for continuing education (CE) in the business community, may be one solution. Early accounts indicate microcredentialing could be dually beneficial, providing students a meaningful way to distinguish themselves ahead of the residency selection process while helping schools further enhance students’ learning experiences.

The Emergence of Microcredentialing

I had my first exposure to microcredentialing many years ago, although I hadn’t yet encountered the term. While teaching a health policy class, I asked students to take two mini-courses of their choosing through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Open School (IHI) to extend their learning. Students had the option of doing more, and I was pleasantly surprised by how many of them took enough courses to earn IHI credentials in healthcare quality.

While microcredentialing is becoming a familiar term across the educational continuum, it is most commonly seen in the CE space, where programs help learners reinforce or expand their expertise without interfering with their ability to work. This is the approach taken at institutions such as University College,¹ a Tufts University school that offers dozens of courses in areas such as business and management; engineering and computer science; leadership for social impact; and health, nutrition, and medicine.

In a recent conversation, Rebekah Plotkin, Director of University College’s Center for Professional and Workforce Impact, noted that her team works closely with employers to identify workforce gaps that the school’s programs can help fill. This collaboration between academia and industry enables educators to adapt curricula to rapidly changing business needs and learners to quickly upskill in new areas (e.g., generative AI).

Whatever the emphasis, the emerging nature of microcredentialing means it is a term that may convey different things to different people. Plotkin said it is incumbent upon program organizers to ensure that microcredentials reflect meaningful competency, as there are currently no common guidelines or standards. The lack of standards is the subject of active debate across the educational community and an area that must be addressed in the future to help learners and others relying on the credential understand and reap the benefits of microcredentials and the expertise they represent.

Microcredentials in HPE

As I have learned more about microcredentialing, I have come to believe there is an opportunity to implement these models more extensively in health professions education (HPE), and undergraduate medical education (UME) in particular. Although microcredentialing is an industry-agnostic concept, the flexible, outcomes-centric learning approach aligns closely with the needs of the health professions. Practice models evolve and new tools and modalities emerge, meaning professionals must turn to CE if they want to stay on the cutting edge of patient care.

Indeed, microcredentials have gained some traction in the health professions. For example, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses offers microcredentials in sepsis care, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and COVID-19 care, while the American Occupational Therapy Association offers a variety of microcredentials that learners can combine with additional courses to earn a professional certificate. Scholars have noted the model’s promise for HPE while reinforcing the need for consistent terminology and clarity around the competencies microcredentials support.

The health professions have also seen increasing emphasis on competency-based education (CBE), which prioritizes skills-based milestones, rather than time-based models, for learning. There seems to be some overlap in the underlying principles of CBE and the practical, real-world emphasis of microcredentialing programs. As healthcare practice continues to evolve and specialization becomes more granular, professional organizations and other stakeholders are likely to find more opportunities to develop—and recognize—training and expertise with microcredential-style programs.

Microcredentialing in UME

The undifferentiated UME degree prepares learners to pursue all specialties. While certain experiences, such as fourth-year electives, specialized learning tracks, and dual-degree programs, provide opportunities for differentiation, students may find value in targeted, modular offerings to build skills that will help them stand out to residency programs and prepare for their chosen specialty. Such offerings should be robust enough to serve as stand-alone markers of experience and knowledge. Additionally, they could be stackable, adding up to a designation that confers special recognition for students who achieve it, which could potentially be acknowledged and valued by residency programs.

Putting Microcredentialing into Practice

Schools and other organizations that decide to explore these programs will want to ensure they choose the right content areas to meet demand. Plotkin said University College relies on the business community to inform its offerings, and institutional mission areas can also be a guide. Schools that have already created larger programs around mission-centric priorities like research could bring relevant skills within reach of more students by developing smaller microcredentials that complement these larger offerings.

As medical educators examine the possibilities for microcredentialing at their schools, they can turn to specialty societies, residency programs, and peer institutions to inform learning objectives. Clinical skills centers, standardized patient programs, and continuing professional development offices can build the experiences microcredentials will require. And curriculum committees and administrators can consider whether to incorporate microcredentialing into existing curricula or segment the offerings as purely extracurricular activities.

These ideas will take effort and intention to explore, but UME professionals who look to the business community and other areas of HPE will find no shortage of models to learn from.

Edited by Emily Johnson

¹ Lois Margaret Nora is a volunteer member of the University College Board of Advisors.