AAOS Diversity Committee Minutes
February 16, 2002
Dallas Convention Center
Present:Not Present:Staff Attending:
Augustus A. White III, MD, PhDMary L. Newport, MDT. Arnold
Robert W. Bucholz, MDClarence L. Shields, MDH. Freeman
Donald P. K. Chan, MDClaudia L. Thomas, MDL. Jenkins
Holly Duck, MDMichele M. Zembo, MDJ. Kramer
Ramon L. Jimenez, MDFernando A. Ravessoud, MDE. LeGrand
David S. Bradford, MDM. Samuels
Committee Operations
Committee Rotations: Dr. White recognized the efforts of Dr. Bucholz and Dr. Jimenez for their long service on the Committee, presenting each with a gift of appreciation. Dr. Bucholz will move on to the Presidential Line as second vice-president and Dr. Jimenez is now the chair of the Patient Education Committee. Each acknowledged his continued support and interest in the goals of the Committee.
Meeting Minutes: Dr. White requested acceptance of the minutes from the October 10, 2001 meeting. A motion was made and the members present approved the minutes.
Budget: The Committee briefly reviewed its approved budget for 2002, noting the availability of funds to develop a videotape to recruit women and underrepresented minorities. Dr. Bucholz commented on a favored approach for using this videotape especially in urban markets. He pointed out that medical students often select their field of specialization for the most surprising of reasons. Perhaps we can take advantage of this and help structure a more rational approach.
In order to change the image of orthopaedics and build greater awareness among women and minorities, Dr. Bucholz urged the Committee to:
- Organize a grassroots effort among academic Fellows and others interested in expanding the pool of medical students attracted to the specialty.
- Identify perhaps a dozen urban programs around the country.
- Think of this as a grassroots effort. Perhaps academic Fellows can use their medical school faculties to invite second year medical students to off-campus social events that feature the recruiting videotape, presentations of information about orthopaedics, question and answer sessions and distribution of mentoring applications.
This sidesteps the need to confront medical school directors who refuse to allow specialties to make recruiting presentations formally on campus.
Committee Charges: Dr. White advised the Committee of a discussion between Dr. Joseph Iannoti, Chair of the Council on Academic Affairs, and himself. Dr. Iannoti requested that the Committee review its current charges and recommend any revisions and suggested program priorities in time for the July Council meeting. After discussion, the Committee adopted a newly drafted set of charges and composition with the following changes:
Charges: 1. Develop strategies and action plans designed to address and overcome, where possible, barriers that women and minorities face in obtaining orthopaedic residency positions.
Composition: 1 member representing the J.R. Gladden Orthopaedic Society and the National Medical Association.
The Committee recommended expanding its total from a Chair, five members-at-large, and three members representing JRGOS, RJOS, AOS, and AOA to a larger body of a Chair, nine members-at-large, and three representatives from JRGOS, RJOS, and AOA. The new composition allows for additional representation of other groups (RRC), appropriate ethnic and gender diversity, and the ability to create sub-committees that will specialize in gender vs. ethnic issues. Committee members felt strongly that this was much preferred to any reorganization that created a separate committee for gender and ethnic concerns.
Action: Dr. White will communicate with Dr. Iannoti, and Dr. Tolo to convey the sense of the Diversity Committee about the urgent need for resizing its permanent membership and adjusting its charges.
Succession: The Committee acknowledged that this was Dr. White’s final year as Committee chair and agreed that it preferred that the next chair come from the current committee members. This allows for managerial continuity in goal-setting and programming. Discussion quickly led to a decision to forward the following slate of candidates to the Council on Academic Affairs and the AAOS Committee on Committees:
Clarence Shields, MD (Recommended)
Michele Zembo, MD (Alternate)
Holly Duck, MD (Alternate)
Annual Meeting 2002
Diversity Booth: The booth has a clean and professional look, but needs more graphic treatment if it is to be effective at the Student National Medical Association meeting in March.
Actions:
- Staff will work on crafting a stronger message for the booth graphics to be used at the SNMA meeting. The booth will focus on distributing mentoring program materials, presenting AAOS, RJOS, and JRGOS in a favorable light.
- Organize 1-2 focus groups among SNMA meeting attendees to test issues raised among RJOS and JRGOS members at the Dallas Annual Meeting.
- Organize a reception for SNMA meeting attendees, Dr. Tolo and others in the Presidential Line who wish to attend and represent the specialty.
- Invite Ronald Lindsey, MD to attend the SNMA reception and/or focus group(s) and help staff the booth since he is already enrolled as a mentor in the Academy’s program and resides in Houston, TX.
Annual Meeting 2003
Presentation of Diversity Issues: The Committee recalled the deadlines for materials submissions:
Instructional Course LectureMarch 18
Scientific Exhibit/Podium/Poster ExhibitsApril 15
SymposiaMay 15
Dr. Jimenez recalled that he had forwarded names for podium speakers to Dr. Tolo who was interested in showing a diverse podium at the next Annual Meeting. There should be staff follow up on this initiative.
Actions:
- Dr. White will contact Dr. Zembo to offer the assistance of other Committee members with her efforts—perhaps to review/provide input for a symposium on diversity.
- Staff to determine next steps in reviewing Dr. Jimenez’s recommendations (Carlos Fuentes—’78-79 Nobel Prize winner for literature; Martin Sheen/Estavez; Edward James Olmos; and Luis Valdez—Teatro Compesino.
AAOS Mentoring Program
Status: There are ~70 mentors and ~40 medical students currently registered. Staff will organize and manage the mailing program to help structure the relationship between matched mentor and student immediately after the Annual Meeting. Staff will additionally begin new efforts to generate additional medical student registration in the program.
Diversity Awards Program
Status: Approved by the Council on Health Policy, Dr. Alan Morris reported on this program to the Board, February 11th. It was placed on the New Board agenda February 15th and will become part of the Board Retreat agenda for discussion in March. Possibly, the Board will review the program a final time at its May meeting.
ABOS and IOTE Written Exam Questions
The Committee reviewed the culturally competent care questions submitted by Dr. White, Dr. Duck, Dr. Jimenez, and the Oliver Wendell Holms Society of the Harvard Medical School.
Action: Staff will forward all questions submitted to Dr. James Beaty (ABOS) and to Dr. Tornetta, chair of the OITE exam committee.
Research Initiatives
Staff reported a disappointingly low response rate from its attempt to repeat the residency census that counts women and minority residents taking the OITE. Discussion of methodology led the Committee to conclude that the manner in which the surveys were collected led to the poor results. Future surveys will have the proctor (stationed at the exam site) collect the surveys simultaneously with the OITE itself. Also, we will make certain the instructions and explanations will be the same as those used previously.
Action: Staff will initiate a survey of orthopaedic departments to supplement the partial information gained from the OITE census.
Staff also reported top-of-mind impressions from the two diversity focus groups planned for the Dallas meeting. While supportive of the Academy in general, both groups reported disturbing feelings about the way women and minorities are acknowledged and treated by the members of the specialty.
Final results from these focus groups will be reported within the next few weeks.