I work at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. I'm the associate professor and I'm also director of the Bariatric Endoscopy Program. I'm an advanced endoscopist, so I do a lot of therapeutic, diagnostic EUS, ERCP, EMR, polypectomies, et cetera. And I'm very honored to be able to participate in the ARIA program. And I'll be focusing my session on the impact of gender and racial diversity. Since I don't think I've met any of you yet, is everyone okay with just introducing yourselves and just saying, you know, your role in your company, et cetera, and where you're from? I can go first. My name is Alexandria Alganian. I work at Steris Endoscopy at our headquarters in Mentor, Ohio. And I am a product manager for our polypectomy portfolio. So the X-Acto Cold Snare, some of our EMR products. And looking forward, I wasn't able to attend the Women in GI Conference that was a few weekends ago. So I'm looking forward to this conversation we have now. Wonderful. Hi, I'm Stacey Blankenship. I'm with Medtronic and I'm the regional manager for the Mid-South. So I actually live in Nashville, Tennessee, but manage Arkansas, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, and then part of the panhandle of Florida. My background, I've been with Medtronic for about 24 years, but 22 of that was in cardiology. So I'm very new to GI and just drinking it from a fire hydrant right now. Okay. Christine Ogier. I live in New Hampshire. Most recently, I was working for Janssen Biotech with Remy Cade Stolaros as a strategic account manager. But I'm a former endoscopy nurse manager. So I'm just kind of, it's been a gap of about eight years. So I wanted to see like what's evolved and the AI portion was just mind blowing to me because that's a lot in 10 years. So that's different. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, wonderful. It was nice to meet the three of you. Let me pop in and share my screen. I have some slides and I'm trying to, sorry, I'm getting an email. I just wanted, they wanted to confirm that I joined the group and I did, obviously. So, and feel free to pop in and interject and ask questions or even I'd love to hear about like what strategies your companies are implementing to incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion and really belonging. And we'll talk about that too. Cause I think that's probably, inclusion and belonging are probably more important, I think, than just bringing in people to the workplace. So let me put this here. Okay, perfect. Okay. Well, I wanted to review just some general concepts that oftentimes I think when we talk about diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI, we think that these terms are used interchangeably but they actually mean something very different. And we'll talk about recognizing the value of DEI in the workplace and identifying strategies to incorporate DEI into your practice or your field of work if your company is not already doing so, or it may be more eye-opening and realize, you may realize that your company is making a lot of efforts to move the pendulum in the right direction. So again, if you could just keep your cameras on, feel free to interject, raise your hand, speak up. This is very informal and I'd love to just pick your brains as well and see what thoughts you guys, everyone has. So again, we'll talk about DEI. So DEI is a term that we frequently hear and it's used to describe, I mean, essentially policies and programs that promote the representation and participation of different groups of individuals. But when you actually dissect it, diversity itself involves all the ways that people are different, not just gender, race or ethnicity, but it even includes like ideas, perspectives and values. Whereas equity aims to ensure the fair treatment, access and equality of opportunity and advancement for everyone while also attempting to identify and remove barriers that have prevented some groups from fully participating. So again, diversity is filling in all the different colors of the rainbow, for example, or different vegetables in a pot, but equity, you wanna make sure that each maybe piece of vegetable is, I guess, being treated fairly and I'll find a better analogy. But then I think inclusion and belonging I think are the most important. So inclusion is what builds culture. It's where everyone has a sense of belonging. It's not enough just to get hired and to sit at the round table, right? So diversity is getting hired. Sitting at the round table, maybe could mean what equity would represent, but being able to speak up, your voice heard, your ideas appreciated and even used, that's when we start talking about inclusion. And really the studies have all shown, it's very consistent across the board that a work environment that's inclusive is supportive, it's respectful and collaborative. And so you have lots of organizations that prioritize DEI. I mean, it's a very hot topic as many of you may be aware, but why is it so difficult for lots of companies and corporations to really retain people from various backgrounds and experiences? And it's because you can hire people, you can treat them fair, but if people don't feel like they count or that they belong, they're gonna go elsewhere and the company misses the mark. So when employees truly feel that they belong at work, you feel more connected and committed. Benefits of having DEI in the healthcare workforce, when I think about like my practice in medicine, I divide it up between patient and employee centered benefits. From a patient standpoint, DEI and having an increased diversity in your employees helps strengthen provider patient communication and relationships. It enhances patient compliance with provider treatment recommendations. It improves healthcare outcomes among patients from different backgrounds. And it also improves access to healthcare for underserved patients. There are many studies that have shown that they're, especially for underrepresented minorities, for example, and even like for women patients, that many of them feel more comfortable seeing a provider from their background, racial, ethnic, or gender background. And for patients who really value that, that really does strengthen the relationship and they're more willing to follow and abide by the recommendations that the providers give them. When you look at employee centered benefits, we know that having a very diverse workforce helps advance the education and skillset for health professionals, specifically enhancing their ability to treat patients from a variety of cultural and social backgrounds. Employees generally are happier in their jobs. They trust management more and they perform better. And economically, companies and practices that are stronger and operate more efficiently result in more profitability. So it's really a win-win at every level. I wanted to review some of the top strategies that I think are very important when we talk about incorporating DEI into your workforce. We'll start with climate assessment and workforce analytics. So to really answer the question of, where your organization is as it relates to DEI, you can't really do much without data. So you need to collect the data, you need to analyze it, and you really need to take a hard look at your workplace. So, there are employee surveys, I'm sure we all receive them from time to time. And then there are also like smaller, like microcosmic surveys, like within your field or within the department that you work in. And you have people that are hired to examine the climate at your place. These assessments help us gather information about why people feel the way they do about working at the current practice, for example. And these smaller surveys, as opposed to like the larger, like all staff surveys, which I think are still just as important, but these like supplement the other surveys by gathering like specific details. I'll put it right here, I'm sorry, yeah. Specific details, such as like measuring, for example, unconscious bias and tracking the effectiveness of change efforts. So, it's important to collect workforce demographics, to better serve not only employees, but the patient population that, for example, you may be that your outreach region, it's important to understand, for example, what types of institutions are you visiting? Are you in small community rural areas where there may be more underserved patient population? What are the resources like? And just, and even within your company, determining what percent of the workforce of leadership is made up by women, for example, or underrepresented minorities. How much internal promotion is going on every year and who's being promoted and at what rates? When you're looking at recruitment, it's always interesting to know, and it's important to know how many applications are coming in? How is the interview process being conducted? Are they being done in a blinded fashion? Who is involved on the committee? What kind of offers are being made and to who? Who accepts the offers? And if you do have very highly qualified applicants who decline offers, there's always room and opportunities to learn and grow from that because maybe the organization doesn't have the right structure or support for that highly desired candidate. And then of course, looking at retention rates, how many leave after one year or three year or the employees that have stayed for a longer period of time? What is it that has made them want to stay at a particular company? I think that's all very valuable information. Really, you can't have this data unless people volunteer. And I know with us receiving so many emails every day, it's very easy just to delete these requests to complete surveys, but we really encourage everyone to fill them out because that's the only way we're gonna learn and grow. Next, we'll talk about having an Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion or DEI. So carrying out the work of promoting and improving diversity in a workplace requires multiple offices and individuals across an organization. The Office of DEI can really provide the oversight that your company may need. It's always good to hire someone and designate them as the Chief Diversity Officer or the CDO who's responsible for building strategies to attract and retain diverse employees, to improve the culture of the organization, support employee resource groups and really help create a more inclusive work environment. You can select the transformation committee who are passionate about building a more diverse, equitable and inclusive organization. So this committee will work with the CDO and other leaders in your company to develop action plans to meet the organization's DEI strategies. And how do you go about creating the committee? I mean, you do have to solicit these opportunities with emails, whatever helps, whatever works. But a lot of times I feel like you can identify employees who want to act as DEI sponsors. Since this is such a hot topic, especially with a younger generation as well, that we usually have a really robust response with people who wanna volunteer. But with that being said, you don't necessarily just want all junior workers. You really need to help encourage even like the older employees who have been there longer, employ your Caucasian male. I went to this meeting and we were talking about DEI. And as much as we love to recruit people from various diverse and underrepresented backgrounds, it was a very striking conversation because it was also like, well, hey, well, don't leave out the majority either. You still need to include Caucasians. You still need to include men. So you wanna have a very diverse committee working together to promote DEI and belonging. So next we'll talk about educating employees. So this is absolutely crucial. I mean, crucial, crucial, crucial to establishing a work environment that embraces diversity, equity, inclusion. I think DEI training is a must. There's many ways to go about doing it. There are companies or platforms or maybe online modules, classroom work, group discussions that I think really all play an important role in improving just the culture in any company or institution. This helps raise awareness on the EI. Many may not know what's going on in the company or what the statistics are on the employee hiring rate, attrition rate, termination rate, et cetera. It's good to gain different perspectives of your coworkers. And you also wanna promote workplace sensitivity. You know, whereas before, and this was very eyeopening to me as well, you know, we talked a lot about, you know, you need to be tolerance. You need to respect people's backgrounds and beliefs and be tolerant. But actually tolerance is not even considered to be the norm anymore, but rather appreciation for differences that should be the goal. And there's a ton of unconscious bias, which are attitudes that affect our understanding, actions and decisions in an unconscious manner that oftentimes drives our actions. And so by bringing these to the conscious mind and like group discussions and modules, having facilitators that help do these like icebreakers and activities, you end up realizing that at some point, you know, we're all victims of unconscious bias. We all have it because we were all raised differently, but becoming aware of it and how it may affect, you know, a coworker of yours really helps you become more sensitive to the topic. And then there are lots of isms and phobias and I'll name a few. So again, you know, tolerance has been shown to actually decrease an employee's confidence and engagements. So, you know, you look at these, the Fortune 500 CEOs in 2014, for example, 23 were female, six were black and none were openly gay. So why were there so few gains at the top? Well, sociologists believe that there's this phenomenon called covering whereby people downplay their differences from the mainstream. So you may see someone, for example, with a disability who might forego her cane at work or a gay man may avoid using he or him if they ask him about his partner. And it's because, you know, people worry about being rejected. And this behavior is not just driven by self-censorship or internalized biases, but also by pressure from managers. So I feel like people at all levels of a company can benefit from DEI training. And so, you know, employees can feel pressure to mute some aspect of their identities, undermining their sense of self and it results in stifling talent. And that's been shown, that's clear across the board. So rather than just fostering a culture of tolerance, you know, why don't we, the goal should be acceptance and really appreciation for everyone's different beliefs and backgrounds. And then there's isms and phobias. You know, there's a whole list of just some of them which are discriminatory and often hostile beliefs and behaviors based on stereotypes, fear and ignorance. And, you know, some isms here, you know, you have racism, colorism, tokenism, ableism, ageism is a big one, elitism and classism and phobias, you know, we have a lot of phobias against not just people's sexual preferences but religious beliefs as well and just physical appearance wise. And so diversity and inclusion training can provide employees with the tools to understand their own biases and have more respect for the coworkers. So again, you wanna foster a respectful, inclusive and equitable environment where everyone can thrive. And a lot of these, again, can be done through structured learning, through online modules, workshops, courses, and at the end of the talk, I'd love to hear if any of your companies are implementing such, you know, strategies and workshops to improve the culture at work. And then there's strategies and action plans. So the office of DEI, you know, should be working with organizational leaders to develop action plans to meet the organization's DEI strategy. And some of the examples are shown here, such as recruiting diverse talent. You know, this could be done by developing sponsorship programs to provide opportunity and growth to minority or marginalized groups. Again, having resources on DEI, the hiring process and retaining and developing diverse talents, you wanna try to eliminate barriers and you wanna try to eliminate bias. Rewriting job descriptions, for example, so that they are gender neutral. You could consider having a blind system for reviewing applications. And then these latter two probably pertain a little more to like doctors working in the hospitals, but, you know, working like with industry, you know, I mean, we want to do what we can so the patient's gonna have access to the resources that you all provide for us, you know? So we wanna try and then increase the diversity of the patient population and improve healthcare access and resources to underrepresented minorities in the community. You know, company management should ensure that the DEI goals are concrete, actionable, and quantifiable. So again, you start off by using the data to find gaps and opportunities. You need to set goals and establish benchmarks, implement them, and then follow up. So for example, you can commission an annual DEI report listing the DEI work that the company has been doing, the progress made toward meeting its goals and objectives, and you need to reassess periodically because only by reassessing will you be able to track data and see if things are heading in the right direction. And then last but not least, knowing and expanding your DEI resources. You know, there's no need to reinvent the wheels. You know, I guarantee you that every company probably may have an office of DEI or someone who's held accountable or the go-to person for resources. They're bound to be available within and outside of your workplace, and you can also develop partnerships with other existing organizations. So, you know, for example, in the hospital, at the institutional level, like for example, at Mayo Clinic, you know, we have the Board of Governors, we have the DEI Oversight Committee, the office of DEI, and then it trickles down to the departments and the divisions, and we work with the national organizations as well. And then we also have what are called employee-organized resource groups, or ERGs, groups where, you know, people form, they congregate around a common dimension of diversity. It could be traditional dimensions, such as, like, ethnicity, age, and gender, but even there are some, such as, like, veterans or single working parents, disabled, people of certain descent. And, you know, I think it does, it's fun to share common interests. You know, no one talks about work all day long, but knowing that you have people who may sit next to you or have an office, you know, I guess now, if we all work from home, but just having other coworkers that share common interests that you may not have known. It improves also cultural awareness. I think it does enhance professional development because you work better as a team, you connect better, and people also use this to help expand community outreach and help, you know, the underserved or bring light to, or shed light to certain groups that maybe communities don't really highlight much. So again, DEI is a value to anyone's organization, and it brings together people, perspectives, and ideas to create stronger bonds among individuals and stronger organizations. It's always good to assess your current workplace with objective metrics in order to determine where the gaps are, as well as the strengths of the company's DEI efforts. And you really don't forget that increasing diversity and prioritizing DEI are not enough, that we really need to implement strategies to really focus on inclusion and belonging. And with that, I'll end. I'll stop sharing my screen. Any questions or comments? I'd love to hear what your companies are doing. I was kind of curious as to what you're doing to outreach for patients, you know, just in minority groups, not so much internally. Like, I think we're all, you know, having that within our larger organizations, but just outwardly, what are you doing to reach those populations for health equity, you know, for? Yeah, no, great question. Well, so our office at DEI was funded like several million dollars to work on this. You know, Mayo Clinic generally is perceived like it's like an affluent patient population. And, you know, you look at the city of Jacksonville, Florida, for example, you know, the population more towards downtown, we have a lot of people without medical insurance and underserved groups. So we actually do a lot of community outreach to get patients seen at our institution, whether it be, you know, forgoing their lack of medical coverage or finding like assistance programs to help them get through the door to be seen at our hospital. Thank you. Yeah. Are any of your companies, I mean, is there an office of DEI that you know of? Yeah, we have one at Medtronic. I know there's a focus and I was part of an effort a couple of years ago with that group. We were looking at why they're not more females in the sales management, the commercial section of the company. And we broke it down to the funnel, kind of what you were talking about, you know, looking as far back as, you know, at the bottom of the funnel is who gets the offer and accepts and stays. And at the top of the funnel is who applies for the role. And what does the math look like as you go through that funnel and who's leaving the funnel at different parts, you know, throughout the screening or the interviews and that sort of thing, and trying to figure out how many females need to be going into the funnel to increase our numbers at the other end. So, and, you know, just we've also seen within the last three years, we also gained a men advocating change group with MAC, I think they changed their name recently, but also having a male ERG focused on promoting women into more leadership roles. Great. Alexandra, were you gonna say something or no? I did not have as good as a data point as what Stacey just shared. I know my organization, we're a small division of the largest stairs corporation. So they have some aspects that they support as well, but my team does a really good job. We have like a 50, 50 split of engineers as female and male. So while outside those that interact with yourself and sales, we do a really good job behind the scenes supporting that group. That's great. That's wonderful. Good. Yeah, I think it's important to track the data, you know. I like what Stacey was talking about. I mean, you'd have to track the data and see how many applications are coming through, you know, who's applying, who's getting hired, who's staying longer than one, three, five years, you know. And does the company accommodate, you know, for life changes where the growing the family or having to cut back time due to, you know, various reasons, you know, like it's important to work in a place where people also understand that we have, you know, lives outside of work, you know, because things change constantly. So. Hey, Dr. Gomez, it's nice to see you. Hey, Rashid, how are you? Good to see you. Yeah, doing well, doing well. No, I agree with all the comments mentioned. And, you know, one thing at AMBA we do, we have a value group that looks for inclusion opportunities. We have veteran events, volunteer opportunities. We do community runs just to represent for awareness. And, you know, one thing I'm passionate about too is furthering education at the organization. So I'm trying to pilot a program for any type of master's degree or certifications for younger employees to further their careers at the company. So something I see a lot of value in, and it also brings more inclusion in the organization. People tend to want to stay on board longer when they feel like they have value and they're being invested into as an individual. So love the topic. That's great. That's awesome. Thanks Rashid. Yeah. Yeah. Well, good. Well, I guess if there are no other comments, you guys can always reach out to me later. My email's in the last slide if you're gonna get a copy of the agenda. Vanessa, are we good on time? Are we, is this the end of this breakout session? Yes, this is the end of this one and you can move to your next one. Okay. All right. Thank you. Great. Thank you everyone. Bye-bye.

diversity

equity

inclusion

workplace

DEI

healthcare