135 - Implementing a Diversity, Equity and Antiracism Curriculum in a single institution Cancer Center

Poster Number: 135
Publication Number: 135.217

Jenny Ruiz, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Alexandra N. Welch, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, Douglassville, PA, United States; Danielle Clerico, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, philadelphia, PA, United States; Susan E. McClory, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Mia Benson-Smith, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Suzanne P. MacFarland, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Lisa Wray, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States; Cassie Kline, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Background: Addressing systemic racism in medicine came to the forefront with the racial health disparities of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased public attention to the Black Lives Matter movement. In parallel, healthcare disparities in both pediatric oncology care and research have also been identified. In 2020, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Department of Pediatrics aimed to address healthcare inequities by developing a Diversity, Equity and Antiracism Curriculum (DEAC). The DEAC was meant to enable pediatric divisions to host learning sessions and increase unified understanding of racism, health equity, white privilege, allyship and LGBTQ+ cultural competencies. The implementation was intended to reach all members of the CHOP community. General pediatric residencies have a track record of evaluating curriculums like the DEAC; however, there are limited curriculum evaluations in pediatric subspecialties.

Objective: To describe the implementation of the CHOP DEAC in the Cancer Center and report initial evaluations.

Design/Methods: The multi-disciplinary Cancer Center Diversity Committee led the DEAC implementation and moderated all sessions, which are held during 1-hour meeting times for Cancer Center research talks in the 2021-2022 academic year. All Cancer Center staff were emailed calendar invitations to attend the online sessions that were held on virtual meeting platforms. A REDCap online evaluation survey was distributed to participants at the end of each session. The survey included 4 questions using 5-point Likert scale and two open ended questions. Survey responses were analyzed by quantitative and thematic analysis.

Results: Three learning sessions were held thus far covering topics on racism and white privilege. Session attendance averaged 58 participants (range 43-80). Survey response averaged 51%. The majority of participants identified themselves as attendings or research staff (Table 1). On average, 72.6% of participants thought the quality of the presentations was excellent (Figure 1, panel A). On average, participants strongly agreed that sessions were valuable (83%), relevant to their job (80%), and that additional sessions would be helpful (86%) (Figure 1, panel B-D). Common themes included appreciation for the sessions and the power of sharing experiences (Figure 2). A common thematic critique has been lack of diverse participation, including male attendance.Conclusion(s): The CHOP Diversity, Equity and Antiracism Curriculum has been successfully implemented and generally well received in a large Cancer Center.
CV_RuizRuiz_Jenny_CV_UPENN_20211215.pdf
Figure 1: Session Evaluations.Responses to questions related to quality (panel A), value (panel B), relevance (panel C), and helpfulness of sessions (panel D).