Diversity at the COMs
Activities at the nation's colleges of osteopathic medicine
Student Resources & Support
More AACOM Diversity in Osteopathic Medical Education resources
ADA Diversity and Inclusion Statement
Articles:
The ADA Institute for Diversity in Leadership (IDL) is designed to enhance the leadership skills of dentists who belong to racial, ethnic and/or gender backgrounds that have been traditionally underrepresented in leadership roles.
Includes topics such as:
Multicultural Networking Groups
The Multicultural, Diversity, and Inclusion (MDI) Network is a network of independent groups of various diverse identities and affiliations based on race/ethnicity; disability; sexual orientation; and religious affiliation that collectively support the increase of diversity and inclusion in occupational therapy.
More Groups
Coalition of Occupational Therapy Advocates for Diversity (COTAD)
COTAD is a volunteer group aiming to increase diversity in the workforce and empower occupational therapy practitioners, educators, and students to enhance cultural humility to create a more inclusive environment. COTAD promotes diversity and inclusion through the development of educational materials, presentations, and advocacy. COTAD’s committees focus on community outreach, academic engagement, and resource development such as the following:
More AOTA Multicultural Interests resources
Statements from APTA
Articles
Resources
Health Equity
Creating the Healthiest Nation: Health & Housing Equity (PDF) examines how structural racism and discriminatory policies led to housing and health inequality in America for low-income communities and people of color.
APHA Action Alert: Urge your members of Congress to support health equity legislation
APHA Health Equity Briefs and Fact Sheets
More Health Equity Resources
APHA's Georges Benjamin on "Closing the Gap on Health Disparities"
Better Health Through Equity: Case Studies in Reframing Public Health Work (PDF) highlights state and local efforts from health agencies and one Tribal Nation across Colorado, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin to address the root causes of health inequities.
Read APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin's thoughts on health equity ("It is simply impossible to talk about the roles that racism and discrimination play in the health of our communities without taking a hard look inward...")
Racism and Health
APHA Policy Statements
Articles
More APHA Resources on Health Equity and Racism and Health
The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) addresses cultural and linguistic diversity issues related to professionals and persons with communication disorders and differences. Contact the staff of OMA at multicultural@asha.org.
Developing Cultural Competence
Practice Resources
Consumer Resources
The AAMC's MedEdPORTAL, in partnership with the American Dental Education Association (ADEA), features peer-reviewed educational resources for educators to advance institutional efforts in creating a diverse and inclusive culture and climate for all in order to drive clinical, educational, research and service excellence.
The MedEdPORTAL Anti-racism in Medicine Collection provides educators with practice-based, peer-reviewed resources to teach anti-racist knowledge and clinical skills, elevates the educational scholarship of anti-racist curricula, and aims to convene a community of collaborators dedicated to the elimination of racism within medical education.
CULTURAL SENSITIVITY
Diversity Enhancement Grant Program
NATA offers Diversity Enhancement Grants up to $5,000 in three different categories to help support the advancement of diversity within the AT profession. Grant applications are due April 1 of each calendar year.
More NATA Diversity resources
The ARC-PA standards highlight the importance of cross cultural communication by stating a PA program curriculum “must include instruction to prepare students to provide medical care to patients from diverse populations.” An annotation to this standard goes on to comment that “quality health care education involves an ongoing consideration of the constantly changing health care system and the impact of racial, ethnic and socioeconomic health disparities on health care delivery.” The following resources will be useful for educators and learners alike to explore resources related to cultural competency, cultural humility and cross cultural communication.
Health Disparities, Health Equity, and Bias
The term health disparity refers to a population-specific difference in disease, health outcome, quality of health care and/or access to health care service. In order to minimize health care disparities, it is imperative for health care providers to be educated on the prevalence, root causes and consequences of these disparities. The following resources can be used for educators and students to explore resources related to the examination and education regarding health disparities.
The following are resources that can be used by PA educators to teach PA students how to improve patient care for individuals with low health literacy.
An often under-looked area in the goal towards minimizing health disparities is in the area of LGBT health. Some educators feel ill-equipped to teach LGBT-competent care or to assist students in facing biases in this area. This page contains numerous resources to help the PA educator accomplish this task.
More PAEA Diversity & Inclusion Resources