A Deeper Dive
Working toward a health care system that reflects our rich diversity
Representation for All
We must develop a health care system that reflects the rich diversity of our communities in terms of ethnicity, gender, physical ability, immigration status, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status.
The workforce in health care is changing rapidly.
These are just a few of the statistics that point to the important and urgent work needed to address issues of inequity in academic internal medicine and its subspecialties.
1 in 5
All voices deserve to be heard. If we are to adequately represent AAIM members, we must also address the inequities that hinder them.
4X
Over the past three decades, the American Osteopathic Association notes, the total number of DOs and osteopathic medical students in has more than quadrupled.
5%
Per the AAMC, university teaching hospitals make up just 5% of the total number of hospitals in the United States, or about 1,700. By contrast, there are more than 5,000 community hospitals in the country.
Checks and balances
“We’ve established a number of safeguards that serve to keep us on track and accountable,” says Talia Austin, MSM, AAIM Senior Director of Member Engagement, Diversity, and Inclusion. Those safeguards include, among others:
- Two DEI-dedicated staff members: our Assistant Director of DEI and the Senior Director of Member Engagement, Diversity, and Inclusion
- An appointed DEI liaison from the AAIM Board of Directors
- Our AAIM DEI strategic plan
- The AAIM DEI Advisory Group and the AAIM DEI Task Force
- Collaborators outside the Alliance
Additionally, Ms. Austin adds, the Alliance uses a quarterly newsletter, Diversity Now, to highlight relevant news and resources for our members—and to help keep DEI issues in focus in the work they do every day.
Acknowledging members
To encourage and support DEI efforts undertaken by members, the Alliance offers several programs and tools, including:
- The Alliance Women L.E.A.D. program, focused on empowering women working within the field of academic internal medicine
- AAIM Health Disparities Toolkit, offering a peer-reviewed collection of resources and teaching tools to help instructors create curriculum
- Application and recruitment resources, providing evidence-based recommendations to address inequities in learning environments and news about the Alliance’s work in this space
- Bias resources, a collection of member-developed tools to help identify, address and mitigate myriad biases in medical education
In addition to these resources, the Alliance promotes DEI through these efforts:
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award, given annually to an individual or team who champions DEI in their department of medicine
- Building Trust Through DEI Grants, a program that awards funding to projects designed to integrate diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as diagnostic excellence, into internal medicine education and training
“The Alliance has a long way to go—as we all do—to ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion for all,” says Polly E. Parsons, MD, MACP, FCCP, ATSF, the Alliance’s President and CEO. “But we have taken these important issues to heart and are working to inculcate DEI principals in everything we do, internally and externally.”