AAOS DIVERSITY ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES
Issued: March 31, 2008
Date of Meeting: March 6th, 2008
Location: San Francisco, CA
Prepared by: Tricia Arnold, Maureen Geoghegan, and Monica Baum
Attendees: Diversity Advisory Board
Ramon Jimenez, MD, Chair, Valerae Lewis, MD, Richard Grant, Toni McLaurin, MD , Melvyn Harrington, MD, Raj Rao, MD, Richard Haynes, MD, William Martin, MD, James Hill, MD, Kim Templeton, MD, Daryll C. Dykes, MD, PhD, Gracia Etienne, MD, PhD, Laura Gehrig, MD, Darryl Peterson, MD, Patrick Hutton, MD, MBA, Alberto Bolanos, MD, and Daneca DiPaolo, MD
Staff
Lewis Jenkins, Tricia Arnold, Maureen Geoghegan, and Monica Baum.
Cc: Ellen Raney, MD, and Amy Ladd, MD
Dr. Ramon Jimenez called the meeting to order at 2:30 pm PT
Introduction of New Members and Attendees
The chair introduced new and old members of the Diversity Advisory; Dr. Richard Haynes was announced as the incoming Diversity Advisory Board chairman. Dr. Jimenez also welcomed guest Gracia Etienne, MD, PhD and thanked him for his continued interest and participation in the Diversity Advisory Board. Dr. Jimenez introduced staff and thanked them for their instrumental participation in ongoing projects of the DAB.
Call to Action
Dr. Jimenez reminded the DAB members of their call to action:
“Changing orthopaedics to meet the changing face of America”
This call to action should be kept in mind when planning or executing DAB activities.
Open DAB Positions
The position of liaison to the council on education has been posted and closes on April 15th.
Zimmer Relationship / Budgeting
Zimmer’s response to the new DOJ proceedings is to establish a third party affiliate to evaluate applications and dispense funds. With funding unsecured for multiple Diversity projects this year, the Residency Tour will be placed on hold or scaled down until a firmer commitment or funding can be secured.
Presentation to BOD
As outgoing chairman, Dr. Jimenez presented a status update to the BOD on March 3rd at the AAOS Annual meeting. This presentation captures DAB accomplishments, activities, and growth.
ACTION: Staff will distribute the presentation slides to DAB members.
CCC Education
DAB members will continue with the initiative to create a business plan to sell the CCC guidebook to non-orthopaedic medical workers.
ACTION: Drs. Jimenez and Hutton will lead the effort to draft and develop a business plan to be submitted to the AAOS Finance Committee at its next meeting. This will also be presented at the next DAB meeting.
CCC State Legislation
The DC AAOS office quarterly updates staff who in turn updates DAB members of all changes to state legislation concerning CCC requirements for its physicians. Physicians in certain states must also meet expectations for ethics CME’s. DAB members felt that this information is very useful and should be posted on the Academy website.
ACTION: Staff will distribute legislative updates to the DAB members quarterly. Staff will post these updates to the AAOS website.
Resident Survey
Staff distributed the trend data for the 98-2007 Resident Survey. DAB members also discussed the question raised by Dr. Patricia McKay regarding OITE performance. Dr. Mckay referenced a study that found minority students who were given a demographic questionnaire prior to taking a standardized test, scored lower. This raised concern that by surveying residents prior to taking the OITE, the DAB’s trend survey was impacting the residents’ scores negatively. The survey is completely voluntary and anonymous, and surveying the students after the exam is impossible. For the present, the survey will remain prior to the OITE exam to preserve response rates.
ACTION: Dr. Haynes will discuss the letter and query with Dr. McKay in person in 1-2 months.
Women and Board Certification
A conversation on Board Certification arose and the mention that 8% of female physicians remain uncertified. The survey does not capture the takers name which renders tracking these uncertified individuals extremely difficult.
ACTION: Dr. Haynes and Dr. Templeton accepted the charge of looking into another means of tracking these trends and developing a survey that is searchable by name and group.
Native American Project
Previously, with no credible infrastructure in place to take advantage of the services and volunteers we could deliver, DAB members decided to carefully proceed with involvement and discussed their the ability to deliver. Still, several DAB members wanted to continue looking into the problem. Drs. Martin and Gehrig expressed the desire to conduct research on the nature of the problem in order to write an article to submit to a peer-reviewed journal. Dr. Martin provided a status update on the Native American Project. The DAB encouraged the National Indian Health board to develop a business plan. If the Health Board chooses to go forward, possible focuses could include arthroscopy and diabetic foot care. Dr. Gehrig feels a focus should be put on diabetes and patient education.
ACTION: Dr. Martin and Dr. Gehrig will work on the research project with the help of Zachary Wilhoit to identify the nature of Native American healthcare deficits.
Mission and Vision Statement
The mission and vision statement were approved, and Dr. Jimenez thanked Drs. Gehrig and Rao for their work on refining these statements.
Mission Statement: To educate our fellows on the impact of diversity and culturally competent care in their practice and society (and to promote the growth of diversity among orthopaedic surgeons).
Vision Statement: Achieve excellence in musculoskeletal healthcare delivery through culturally competent care and a diverse orthopaedic profession.
Mentoring Program
Dr. Jimenez sponsored a small group of middle and high school students to see the Body Worlds exhibits and received wonderful feedback. He introduced this to the DAB as another opportunity to personally mentor and encourage young students to pursue a career in musculoskeletal healthcare.
Dr. Lewis discussed “mother” organizations that cater to 3rd through 12th graders such as Jack and Jill. She introduced the idea to partner with them providing monthly activities for younger students promoting musculoskeletal healthcare and allowing interested high school students the opportunity to shadow the surgeons in practice. This may cause a small issue in hospitals or practices that require the patients to give informed consent when the student will be present. Such a program would mimic “Role Model” and Puente programs and provide early engagement.
ACTION: Dr. Lewis will make contact with the Jack and Jill program to investigate a partnership for future mentoring opportunities.
Diversity Economics
Dr. Bolanos provided a brief update on his assigned initiatives. As of yet, no studies or models mimic or address the economic impact of diversity on the orthopaedic practice.
ACTION: Drs. Hill, Bolanos, and Dykes will work to design a study with Harvard graduate students for submission for an ICL at Annual Meeting 2010.
ACTION: Staff will distribute collected literature to work group
SNMA 2008
Staff provided the details of this year’s diversity activities at SNMA. Thanks to a donation by The New York University Hospital for Joint Diseases, the medical student reception will be funded. The reception will be a scaled-back version from what had been previously planned.
ACTION: Staff will coordinate with SNMA staff to promote the reception.
ACTION: Drs. Haynes and McLaurin with staff will discuss the opportunities for medical students in the in the booth/exhibit.
Academy Position Statement on Diversity
Members of the DAB expressed a renewed interest in pursuing an AAOS position statement on diversity.
ACTION: Staff will work with DAB members to provide them with the necessary elements and procedure for position statements.
Diversity Award 2009
Staff provided DAB members with the 2009 Diversity Award timeline. Though members cannot nominate a candidate, Dr. Haynes encouraged DAB members to solicit additional applications.
Other Society Activities
With future collaboration for a PSA, DAB members were assigned to attend a joint meeting between the DAB and the Women’s Health Issue Advisory Board.
ACTION: Dr. Gehrig will provide fellow DAB members and staff with the WHIAB PSA developed for use in 2008
ACTION: Drs. DiPaolo, Gehrig, and Haynes will attend a meeting with both DAB and WHIAB representatives to further develop and discuss this PSA.
Service Award Recognition
Dr. Haynes presented the outgoing chairman with a certificated and service award for Dr. Jimenez’s contributions and commitment to the DAB over the past 6 years. (Dr. Raney not present to receive).
Future Meeting Schedule
A tentative date was set for the next DAB meeting on June 27th, 2008.
ACTION: Members with any conflicts must notify Dr. Haynes and staff by 4/15/08.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:40pm PT.