Diversity:
The Department of Emergency Medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is committed to training a diverse group of residents and enhancing diversity within the specialty and medicine as a whole1,2. We welcome applicants who come from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in medicine including underrepresented minorities, LGBTQI individuals, and first generation college graduates. We believe that this is particularly important at Harbor-UCLA given our role as a county hospital, which serves as a safety net for all patients in need of medical care regardless of their ability to pay. We are privileged to serve an incredibly diverse group of patients and are dedicated to recruiting and training individuals who represent the populations we serve and are interested in becoming leaders in these communities.
Emergency Medicine Resident Diversity Initiative:
This is a group of residents and faculty committed to recruiting residents and faculty from traditionally underrepresented groups in medicine. We also work towards increasing cultural competency and community involvement among residents, faculty and staff through educational, research, and community based initiatives.
Area and Population:
The Medical Center serves over two million residents of the southwestern areas of Los Angeles County and compromises a three hundred square mile catchment area. Harbor-UCLA is owned and operated by the County of Los Angeles as a public teaching hospital and a general acute care facility for the county residents. It also serves as a major teaching hospital for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Harbor patient demographics:
Latino: 55%
African American: 20%
Caucasian: 18%
Other: 7%
LGBT Advisory Committee:
This hospital wide committee, initiated by EM faculty and residents, aims to improve the patient experience for LGBTQI patients. The committee includes attending physicians, residents, medical students, nurses, social workers, ancillary staff, and patients.
CIR Underrepresented Minorities in Medicine Committee:
The residents’ union, the Committee for Interns and Residents (CIR), provides programming, networking, and support for individuals who come from underrepresented groups in medicine. Emergency Medicine residents currently occupy one out of eight CIR delegate positions.
International and Domestic Health Equity:
This is a UCLA-system wide collaboration that focuses on how academic emergency medicine can play a role in the “promotion of health equity and the elimination of health disparities, locally, nationally and globally”.
www.idheal.org
Faculty and Resident Research Projects:
There are multiple projects initiated by faculty and residents that focus on diversity, health disparities and inequity, and social emergency medicine. Current projects and interests include ED social determinants of health screening, violence prevention, and jail recidivism.
Diversity Dinner:
This is a yearly dinner focusing on welcoming self-identified applicants from underrepresented groups in medicine. It is attended by EM faculty and residents who support the goal of decreasing the disparity in the number of historically underrepresented minorities in emergency medicine. All applicants are welcome to attend. The specific date, time and venue will be made available during the interview season.
Resident Contact Information:
Interested applicants and sub-Interns who would like further information about the Emergency Medicine Resident Diversity Initiative should feel free to contact us at HarborEMDiversity@gmail.com
References: