Justice-Equity-Diversity-Inclusion (JEDI) Committee

Illustrated map of the world with red location markers

Each marker signifies the geographic location that a sample of our Hospital Medicine providers most identify with.

The Section of Hospital Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Health is committed to creating a culture that is just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive. Therefore, we have created a Justice-Equity-Diversity-Inclusion (JEDI) Committee that we hope serves as a model to be used in other sections across the Wake Forest Baptist Health system.

Mission Statement

Our committee is dedicated to promoting and achieving diversity in all respects to create a just, equitable and inclusive workplace. We believe that creating an environment where everyone can be their authentic selves will bring out the best in them. We trust that our commitment towards building a diverse and inclusive team will also serve to address and improve inequity in healthcare.

- Brianna Haller, PA-C and Raj Nagaraj, MBBS, MPH

JEDI Committee Members

The Section of Hospital Medicine Committee is composed of representatives from each of our Wake Forest Baptist Health sites, including Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Davie Medical Center, High Point Medical Center, Lexington Medical Center and Wilkes Medical Center.

...

Accomplishments

JEDI Lecture Series
- This series provides a forum for our Hospital Medicine providers to deepen their knowledge and awareness of issues and opportunities for change in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion. It encourages our Hospital Medicine providers to consider perspectives other than their own, broaden their basis for critical thought, and promote cultural understanding.
Team-Building Exercises
- We have created team building exercises for our providers in order to motivate them to work better together, develop their strengths, and to address any of their weaknesses
Adjunct Faculty for our Advanced Practice Providers
- We advocated for the advancement of our APPs. We have now established a blueprint to promotion as Adjunct Faculty members for our APPs.
Early and Late Call Schedule
- At Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, we collaborated with leadership to create an early and late call schedule to make work schedules more flexible for our providers in order to improve their work-life balance.
- We modeled this schedule based on what already had been in place at some of our affiliated hospitals as well (e.g. Lexington Medical Center).
Jeopardy System
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed an impartial system-wide jeopardy system to ensure we had adequate staffing for any unexpected absences.
Davie Medical Center Workspaces
- We advocated for more modernized workspaces for all of our providers at Davie Medical Center.
Childcare
- Many of our providers have children and live in a household with two working parents. It was determined that many of our providers found it difficult to find adequate childcare for their children. Therefore, we devised a plan to ensure all of our providers had adequate childcare for their children, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thursday Thoughts and Trivia Newsletter
- A monthly email newsletter showcasing the diverse achievements of our Hospital Medicine group. It is sent to many institutional leaders in addition to all of the members of our group.

Policies

Family Leave Policy

We advocated for more progressive family leave policies. Currently, any parent who is welcoming a new child to their home through birth or adoption will receive two weeks of paid parental bonding leave. Additionally, the parent who gives birth to the child (if applicable) will receive an additional six weeks (for vaginal delivery) or eight weeks (for a Cesarean delivery) of paid parental bonding leave. We are continuing to work with our leaders to improve this policy.

Lactation Room

We worked closely with hospital leadership to enhance support for lactation rooms. We have acquired sufficient space, such that nursing mothers have a dedicated, private room for pumping. Our lactation room is conveniently located within the Section of Hospital Medicine offices for easy access when providing patient care.

Recruitment and Advancement

We have taken several steps to increase our diversity in recruitment for the Section of Hospital Medicine:

Requiring members of our Hospital Medicine Recruitment Committee undergo implicit bias training
Amending our advertisements to emphasize the importance of diversity in our recruitment process
Offering applicants the opportunity to meet with representatives from one of the affinity groups

Affinity Groups

What are affinity groups?
- They are groups formed around common interests and issues
What are the advantages to affinity groups?
- They benefit their own members, but also work to improve our institution as a whole
- They support efforts to attract and retain the best talent
- They promote leadership and development at all ranks
- They build an internal support system for faculty and staff
- They encourage diversity and inclusion at all levels
At Wake Forest Baptist Health, we have several affinity groups and the amount continues to grow:
- African American/Black
- Hispanic/Latinx
- Indigenous Peoples
- Jewish
- LGBTQ+ and Allies
- Muslim
- Veteran’s Society
During your interview day with us, you will have the unique opportunity to meet with a representative from one of the affinity groups.

Scholarship

Raghava Nagaraj, Brianna Haller, Dave McIntosh, Olivia Mills. Implicit Bias and Upstander Training Workshop. Society of Hospital Medicine Converge. May 3-7, 2021.

Diversity and Inclusion Survey

We are surveying our entire Hospital Medicine group regarding diversity and inclusion and will be implementing particular interventions as a result of this survey. We will be comparing the surveys pre- and post-intervention with the intent of publishing our findings.