The public health emergency has led to staff volatility in endoscopy units across the country. As you augment or rebuild your team, now is the time to ensure diversity has a foothold in the composition and work of your healthcare team.
Each of us comes to the discussion of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in GI from our own place, exactly as it should be. Beginning with the understanding that promoting diversity among the healthcare workforce is essential to improving the quality of care for all patients, we can build from there through open, transparent communication and concrete actions. Here are steps you can take today to enhance your understanding of DEI in GI.
- Read Diversity in gastroenterology in the United States: Where are we now? Where should we go?. This pivotal paper, published in GIE in 2016, defines diversity, makes the benefits of a diverse workforce readily understandable, and frames ASGE’s commitment to a number of initiatives over the years to reduce disparities.
- Watch the 5-minute video tip by Lukejohn Day, MD, FASGE, in which he shares his thoughts on how to make your organization and GI practice thrive by ensuring you have a diverse workforce. Dr. Day answers three key questions about workplace diversity.
- Watch the 26-minute episode of The Advocate during which Jennifer Christie, MD, FASGE, interviews Dr. Lukejohn Day. In this segment, Dr. Day eloquently addressed both the patient and staff experience and how diversity and equity plays a role in that.
- Watch the 1-hour webinar We All Have a Scope in this: Advancing DEI in GI Together during which a panel of your peers and leaders in DEI discuss ASGE’s five-year Action Plan to advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in GI.
- Register for the November 19 GI Endoscopy Unit Leadership virtual, live course. The Engineering High-Performing Teams section of the agenda has been expanded this year and features Pegah Hosseini-Carroll, MD, FASGE, presenting Increasing the Diversity and Cultural Competency of Your Team and Stephanie Loughner, JD, presenting Employment Wake-Up: Changes in the Employment Law Landscape with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
- This course is part of ASGE’s GO/Trifecta practice management series. Save when you register for the bundle. Your registration provides complimentary access to members of your GI team to the live and on-demand versions of purchased course(s), including associated CME/CE, if you register no later than November 15, 2021.
There remains much work to be done to advance DEI in gastroenterology and endoscopy. Together we will continue to make strides, taking on challenges and finding the opportunities within, so our practices thrive and our patients received the highest quality of care.