 |
|
 |
Fourth
National Conference on |
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
Workshops
| A
| B
| C
| D
| E
| Workshop A-5: Improving the diversity of the healthcare workforce: from supply to demand Health Care’s Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity In Its WorkforceThe United States is rapidly becoming a more diverse nation, as demonstrated
by the fact that non-white racial and ethnic groups will constitute a
majority of the American population later in this century. The representation
of many of these groups (e.g., African Americans, Hispanics, and Native
Americans) within health professions, however, is far below their representation
in the general population. Increasing racial and ethnic diversity among
health professionals is important because evidence indicates that diversity
is associated with improved access to care for racial and ethnic minority
patients, greater patient choice and satisfaction, and better educational
experiences for health professions students, among many other benefits. HPEIs can improve admissions policies and reduce barriers to URM admission by developing a clear statement of mission that recognizes the value of diversity in health professions education. Admissions policies should be based on a comprehensive review of each applicant, including an assessment of applicants’ attributes that best support the mission of the institution (e.g., background, experience, multi-lingual abilities). Admissions models should balance quantitative data (i.e., prior grades and standardized test scores) with these qualitative characteristics. The federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is a major funder of health professions training that seeks to improve the quality and availability of diverse health professionals through an array of programs. These health professions programs should be evaluated to assess their effectiveness in increasing the numbers of URM students enrolling and graduating from HPEIs, and Congress should provide increased funding for programs shown to be effective in enhancing diversity. State and local entities should increase support for diversity efforts through programs such as loan forgiveness, tuition reimbursement, loan repayment, and other efforts. In addition, private entities should be encouraged to collaborate through business partnerships with HPEIs to support the goal of developing a more diverse health-care workforce. The U.S. Department of Education should strongly encourage accreditation
bodies to be more aggressive in formulating and enforcing standards that
result in a critical mass of URMs throughout the health professions. In
addition, health professions education accreditation bodies should develop
explicit policies articulating the value and importance of diversity among
health professionals, and monitor the progress of member institutions
toward achieving these goals. Brian D. Smedley, PhD is Project Director, The Opportunity Agenda, a think tank devoted to improving public debate on issues of opportunity and human rights. Formerly, Smedley served as Senior Program Officer in the Division of Health Sciences Policy of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), where served as Study Director for the IOM reports, In the Nation’s Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health Care Workforce and Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. Previously, Smedley served as Study Director for the IOM reports, Promoting Health: Intervention Strategies from Social and Behavioral Research; The Right Thing to Do, The Smart Thing to Do: Enhancing Diversity in the Health Professions; and The Unequal Burden of Cancer: An Assessment of NIH Research and Programs for Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved. Smedley came to the IOM from the American Psychological Association, where he worked on a wide range of social, health, and education policy topics in his capacity as Director for Public Interest Policy. Prior to working at the APA, Smedley served as a Congressional Science Fellow in the office of Rep. Robert C. Scott (D-VA), sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Education Policy Division of the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J. Among his awards and distinctions, in 2004 Smedley was honored by the Rainbow/PUSH coalition as a “Health Trailblazer” award winner; in 2003 and 2000 he was awarded the National Academy of Sciences’ Individual Staff Award for Distinguished Service; he was awarded the Congressional Black Caucus “Healthcare Hero” award in April, 2002; and in August, 2002, was awarded the Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest by the American Psychological Association.
The White Memorial Medical Center Family Practice Residency Pipeline: Preparing Physicians for Underserved CommunitiesThis presentation will describe the unique Family Practice Residency
Program at White Memorial Medical Center in East Los Angeles, which emphasizes
training excellent physicians to provide culturally responsive care to
underserved patients. We will begin with an overview of the history of
our program, emphasizing our initial needs assessment conducted in East
L. A. over 13 years ago. Our presentation will emphasize how recruitment
of future physicians begins with community links between our physicians
and school children, and we will underscore our notable success in recruiting
minority physicians generally, and Latino/a physicians more specifically.
The presentation will emphasize the importance of this work in light of
racial disparities in health access and outcomes in this country, as well
as the IOM Report cited need for health providers from underrepresented
minority groups. Biographical Sketches Born in Mexico, Dr. Flores was raised in southern California since the age of eight years old. He attended Sierra High School in Whittier, California and graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in History in June 1977. He is Co-Director of the Family Practice Residency Program at White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles. Dr. Flores graduated with honors from the UC Davis School of Medicine
in 1981 and completed his internship and residency in Family Practice
at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Los Angeles. Dr. Flores has previously
served on the Clinton Health Care Task Force Hispanic Advisory Committee
and was a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC) of the National
Health Service Corps. He also has served on the University of California
(UC) Medical Student Diversity Task Force advising the UC on effective
ways to recruit and retain students from disadvantaged backgrounds and
from ethnic groups known to be under-represented in medicine. Dr. Jeffrey Ring is a bilingual (Spanish and English) clinical psychologist and serves as the Director of Behavioral Sciences at the Family Practice Residency Program at White Memorial Medical Center in East L.A. He completed his undergraduate education at U.C. Berkeley and went on to complete a doctorate degree in clinical and community psychology at Boston University. In addition, Dr. Ring completed a fellowship in minority and community psychology with an emphasis on Latino/a mental health at the School of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. Dr Ring has been working in the area of culturally responsive health and mental health for over a decade, with a number of published articles and international lectures and presentations. Most recently, he published a self-reflective article on the provision of culturally responsive care from a white, male perspective in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. Dr. Ring also serves as co-chair of the Group on Minority Health and Multicultural Education in the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. He lives in Burbank, California with his wife and twin sons.
|
||||||
  |
|||||||
| Fourth
National Conference is presented by State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Resources for Cross Cultural Health Care, Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, US Department of Health and Human Services, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations |
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| As with the rest of Diversity Rx, this section
is a work in progress and we welcome information on other efforts, programs,
and reports that will expand upon the information offered here. Please
let us know if you have other examples to include here. |
||||||
  |
essentials | models and practices | policy | legal
issues | networking
| table of contents | contact us
| who we are |
|||||
 |
 |
|||||
|
Diversity Rx is sponsored by: |
 The National Conference of State Legislatures |
 Resources for Cross Cultural Health Care |
 Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation |
|||
