Choosing Wisely STARS program expands to focus on trust

In 2017, Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin and Costs of Care Inc., in partnership with the ABIM Foundation and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, created the Choosing Wisely STARS program to catalyze grassroots, student-led initiatives to advance health care value in medical education. Based on a model developed in Canada, the program, which began with a cohort of 50 first-year medical students from 25 medical schools across the U.S., has grown to include more than 500 medical students from more than 50 medical schools.  

Now the STARS program is expanding to include an explicit focus on trust, with an emphasis on the role of trust in conversations and efforts to reduce overuse. Program directors are in the process of defining learning objectives related to building trust in health care, with the goal of introducing curricular components to the STARS program that aim to achieve these learning objectives. Medical students will also be encouraged to lead or participate in initiatives that contribute to advancing the Building Trust initiative.