Resident Diversity and Inclusion Coalition
The purpose of the Resident Diversity and Inclusion Coalition (RDIC) is to create an environment of inclusive excellence while increasing the diversity of our providers to be reflective of the patients we care for in central Ohio and around the world. This is achieved through a two-prong approach of visibility and support.
Visibility
Purpose: To improve the diversity of the pediatric provider workforce.
- Pediatric Visiting Student Elective Scholarship Program for fourth year medical students
- RDIC pre-interview gatherings
- Increasing diversity of faculty holding interviews for residents and/or fellows
- Nationwide Children's diversity magazine
- RDIC task-force executive board positions (see descriptions below)
- Attend AMEC and LMSA national conferences
Support
Purpose: To promote a culture of inclusion and allow for an institution that retains the best and most diverse talent.
Creating a Sense of Community
- Increasing diversity of fellows/faculty members to attend and give lectures for residents and medical students
- "Family dinners"
- Annual RDIC intern welcome party
- Work closely with NMA, NHMA, national LGBTQIA+ and allies groups
Education
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Pediatric Equity and Advocacy Resident Learning Series (P.E.A.R.L.S.)
In an effort to equip providers with tools and resources necessary to help mitigate health and health care disparities, the Institute of Medicine (IOM), National Institutes of Health (NIH), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and Ohio Medicaid, among others, have made calls to action to improve the cultural competency education of providers as a means of informing the workforce of inequality and inequity that patients experience.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital Pediatric Residency Program has made considerable strides in improving workforce diversity. The next step, after working tirelessly to recruit a diverse group of providers, is to create a supportive and inclusive environment for the trainees while providing culturally competent care to patients. As we strive for best outcomes, education very uniquely can be an accelerator for achieving a culture of inclusion.
We hypothesize that multi-modal, longitudinal resident education can help mitigate implicit biases by means of providing: (1) knowledge that implicit biases exist and the consequences of those biases in the U.S. healthcare system via virtual reality simulation, team-based learning and workshops, (2) awareness of one’s own attitudes/biases via completion of the Implicit Association Test, guided self-reflection and group debriefing and (3) skills to mitigate these biases in both patient care and in the workplace via perspective-taking and formation of a toolkit to replace biased responses with equitable and culturally-competent responses.
Curriculum Developers: Monica Hoff, MD, Claudia Mosquera, MD, Matthew Hazle, MD
Faculty advisors: Elizabeth Bonachea, MD, Michael Perry, MD, John Mahan, MD and Rebecca Wallihan, MD
- Diversity lecture series through the Medical Education Advanced Competency
- Resultant scholarly activity and abstract/manuscript submission
A Culture of Inclusion
- Physician Diversity Coalition made up of residents, fellows, faculty and support staff (HR, marketing, coordinator/administrative assistant) with systems in place to promote a culture of inclusion via pipelines, recruitment and support
- LGBTQIA+ in Columbus
- Columbus has a large LGBTQIA+ population, rated top LGBTQ-friendly city by a national advocacy group in 2021
- Historically gay neighborhoods include German Village, Short North, Italian Village, Victorian Village and Merion Village
- TransOhio and City of Columbus Ohio LGBTQIA+ Health Initiative has several identified “pride providers,” who are culturally sensitive and trained specifically for providing care for LGBTQIA+ patients
- Stonewall Columbus, Columbus Urban Pride, and Kaleidoscope Youth Center are a few among many organizations committed to supporting activism in our community
- The Pride Parade is the second largest in the Midwest
- Host networking events with LMSA, SNMA and LGBTQIA+ groups from local medical schools, such as OSUCOM and OUHCOM
- Host regional and national virtual round tables
Meet Our Executive Board
Kaia Amoah, MD
RDIC Co-Chair
Pediatric Resident
Jasmine Robinson, MD
SNMA Liaison
Pediatric Resident
Abena Obeng, DO
Community Service Liaison
Pediatric Resident
Charu Gupta, MD
La Clinica Latina
Pediatric Resident
Alicia Rodgers, DO
RDIC Co-Chair
Pediatric Resident
Nichole Anderez, DO
LMSA Liaison, LGBTQIA+ Liaison
Pediatric Resident
Amy Parikh, MD
Visiting Student Elective
Pediatric Resident