Diversity and Inclusion at Phoenix Children's

Phoenix Children's Hospital is committed to the recruitment and retention of diverse residents and fellows to ensure culturally competent care for our patient population.  Our currents trainees represent all racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, gender, and sexual orientation backgrounds. During recruitment, a trainee-driven taskforce is utilized to help actualize and support our diversity and inclusion goals.  In 2020, we introduced several new initiatives to further promote diversity, they include: 

• Participation in local and national medical student conferences (Student National Medical Association and Latino Medical Student Association)
• Underrepresented Minorities Visiting Elective Program

While we have not fully realized all of our goals, we remain committed to continued progress, innovation and transparency while we further our efforts.

Phoenix Children's Hospital recognizes the importance of both mentorship and sponsorship for the academic success of our residents and fellows.  Research shows that underrepresented minorities tend to have fewer mentors and are offered less opportunities for sponsorship.  Thus, to further support our underrepresented minority (URM) residents and fellows, we offer a mentorship program that pairs each trainee with a junior or senior faculty member that shares either their racial/ethnic background or are in their desired field of study.  We also offer opportunities for peer mentorship and support between mentees.  Finally, URM residents are encouraged to participate in national mentorship programs to help further their career goals.  

In addition to supporting our residents and fellows, we believe in holding ourselves accountable for creating an environment of inclusive excellence. Thus, we administered a learning climate survey and are creating initiatives to address any areas of concern or perceived shortcomings.

Phoenix Children's Hospital is committed to educating our community on topics related to diversity/equity/inclusion, health disparities and social justice.

Some curricular highlights include:

• Longitudinal Implicit Bias Curriculum – This curriculum for pediatric residents uses a combination of didactics, reflective exercises, case studies and role playing to teach about implicit bias and how to mitigate it in clinical practice
• Implicit Bias/Social Determinants of Health Curriculum – This curriculum for Pediatric Hospitalist Medicine Fellows is designed to teach aspects of health equity to hospital medicine fellows
• Conversations about Race- Social justice curriculum open to all trainees is designed to teach a variety of race-related topics and their applicability to medicine
• Community Advocacy Track - Created for pediatric residents interested in promoting child health and reducing child health disparities through engagement in community-based or legislative advocacy projects in collaboration with local, state and/or national partners
• Global Health Track - The mission of this track for Pediatric residents is to equip physician leaders with an awareness of the healthcare issues faced by children in the developing world and the ability to apply those concepts to the care of the underserved in the United States
• Social Injustice Awareness Book and Movie Club – This grassroots resident-led group meets monthly and uses movies and literature to explore a variety of topics related to racial and social injustice 

In addition to curricular interventions, we have a few research projects on diversity and inclusion related topics and continue to explore more educational scholarship opportunities for our residents and fellows!