Diversity and Health Equity Committee
Latest Updates
March 21, 2022
Dear Program Directors,
We would like to ask you to complete a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion survey about your program. The AFMRD Diversity and Health Equity Committee has created a set of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion milestones. The intent of this survey is to understand which areas programs are doing well in and in which areas programs may need additional support and resources. We hope you will complete this survey to help direct the committee in which areas to focus!
Link to survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DEIEval
Thank you,
Santina Wheat, MD, MPH
John B. Waits, MD, FAAFP
AFMRD Liaisons to ACGME Equity Matters
September 21, 2021
Members of the AFMRD Diversity and Health Equity Committee have developed Diversity Milestones for Program Assessment. This tool is a way for individual programs to assess themselves and their institutions on aspects of diversity and identify areas of opportunity and areas of strength.
AFMRD members can now find this tool in the PD Toolbox: https://www.afmrd.org/p/do/sd/sid=2889&isnew=1&type=0
Stay tuned for a future Mentor Monday for best practices on how to use this valuable tool.
July 29, 2021
The 2021 Accreditation Data System (ADS) Annual Update includes questions about what programs are doing regarding diversity and inclusion. The questions ask:
- Describe how the program will achieve/ensure diversity in trainee recruitment, selection, and retention.
- Describe how the program will achieve/ensure diversity in the individuals participating in the training program (e.g. faculty, administrative personnel, etc.).
In order to help programs answer these questions, we are providing a few tips and resources:
- Members of the AFMRD Diversity and Health Equity Committee provided examples of diversity initiatives their programs have done in presentations given in 2020. A video from the 2020 FMEC may be found here: https://vimeo.com/580308984/16682f9897. PowerPoint slides from the 2020 PDW On-Demand presentation may be found in the PD Toolbox: https://www.afmrd.org/p/do/sd/sid=2855
- Note that the questions ask how the program will achieve/ensure diversity. Your program may wish to state where your program is in terms of achieving diversity and what the next steps are.
As recruitment season nears, this is also a great time to prepare for interviews and a holistic evaluation of applicants. To help programs with this process, we are sharing some definitions below that may be helpful to review with your team.
Diversity: All the ways that people differ, encompassing the different characteristics that make one individual or group different from another.
Equity: The fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all people, while also striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have prevented the full participation of some individuals and groups.
Equality: Giving everyone the exact same resources. Equality may not beget equity.
Inclusion: The act of creating authentic environments in which all individuals and groups can be and feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued to fully participate.
Bias: A form of prejudice that results from our need to quickly classify individuals into categories. We all have biases and becoming aware of our own biases can be the starting point for overcoming them. A useful tool for this is the Implicit Association Test: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
You may also want to consider how you may apply some of these strategies to recruitment for other positions related to your program. You might also discuss any faculty development or institution-wide educational opportunities related to this area. As you look to the future, please feel free to share what areas might be helpful for your program and organization along the journey to ensuring diversity and equity.
-The AFMRD Diversity and Health Equity Committee