Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

At URMC Med-Peds, we are a family. Our commitment to diversity reflects the belief that all the individuals making up the Med-Peds Program including residents, faculty, and staff are unique, exceptional and truly valued. All of these individuals create an inclusive culture and foster one another’s success and the success of the program. We believe that our differences are our strengths. We recognize that there is no gold standard sex, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, culture, language or body. We know that diverse and inclusive teams with high trust are twice as accurate, creative, and productive as non-diverse and non-inclusive teams. To that end, we have embarked on a journey of action towards achieving “ever better” (Meliora) together.  Our program provides an inclusive, diverse, supportive and equitable learning environment that values all individuals through our equity curriculum and actions.  Our goal is that our residents and faculty reflect the diverse population we serve. 

Commitment

• Provide education about bias in medicine. All members of our program are required to take implicit bias and discriminatory abuses (formally known as microaggressions) training
• Empower our trainees and staff to be active bystanders. Members of our program receive training on how to respond to witnessed abuses, racism, and/or intolerant language or behavior and are encouraged to report the instances
• Promote a psychologically safe and supportive culture and environment. Our program has a zero tolerance for discriminatory offenses by patients, colleagues and or supervisors
• Continued self-improvement. Our program will regularly assess healthcare disparities in our own continuity clinic and utilize outcome metrics to improve the quality of healthcare we deliver

Culture and Support

• Listen and learn.  We hold regular training for residents, faculty and staff on the roots and outcomes of discrimination, implicit bias, discriminatory abuses (microaggressions), bystander/ally training, health care disparities and mentoring across differences. 
• Work jointly with colleagues across departments. We collaborate with other departments and organizations to prevent working in silo. 
• Create and sustain supportive and safe spaces. The Association of Minority Residents and Fellows (AMRF) originated from within the Med-Peds residency program in 2014.  We continue to support and facilitate monthly meetings for this organization and we actively invest in each and every trainee’s success.
• Hold ourselves and each other accountable.  Responding as a bystander to inequity is a tenet of professionalism for us.  We train you on how to report, how to intervene, and how to resolve instances of inequity.  We train you to have a growth mindset on your own anti-racism journey.
• Commitment to mentorship. We ensure that each resident has support and mentorship throughout residency. The relationships that develop are designed to foster personal and professional growth and wellness.

Curriculum

• Innovative material. The curriculum has been revamped to include education on racism, implicit bias, trauma-informed care, gender affirming care, care for the LGBTQIA+ community, care for patients with disabilities, and lifestyle medicine in resource poor settings.
• Integration into existing material. In addition to stand alone talks on these topics, this curriculum integrates these topics into the current standard curriculum to further emphasize how integral these parts are to all aspects of medical care and not “other” topics.
• Comprehensive and widespread efforts. These efforts are ongoing in the ambulatory setting, inpatient setting and in quality improvement education.

Recruitment

• Commitment to diversity.  We are committed to recruiting a diverse workforce that reflects the population we serve.
• Recruitment efforts. We practice holistic reviews of applicants, standardized interviewing and faculty education in bias surrounding admissions processes.
• Collaboration with and creation of pipelines. We work with various programs to ensure that people have equal access within Med-Peds to rotations, mentorship and residency application advocacy.