Care of the Underserved - REACH Curriculum

In 2018, our program launched a longitudinal curriculum, Colorado REACH (Race, Equity and Advocacy in Community Health) with the goal of highlighting the patient’s perspective by placing the focus of training on the care of vulnerable populations, social determinants of health, advocacy and health equity.

The REACH curriculum starts on day one of intern orientation with an introduction to resident continuity clinic that is followed by a scavenger hunt of Southwest Denver to learn about the community and different resources that exist for patients. Each year of training that follows is designed to strengthen knowledge of the different aspects of working within community health by providing a specific focus during residents’ ambulatory month such as medically complex patient care and transitions of care, primary care in an FQHC, care of vulnerable populations, and mental health and addiction medicine. You can find an overview in the slideshow below.

Advocacy is also introduced to trainees at the start of intern year with an invitation to join our resident-led JEDAI committee, which was created to provide guidance, structure and support for any project they wish to join or embark upon during residency. Check out our JEDAI committee to learn more about what our residents are doing in the community. Senior residents participate in an advocacy training half day session that includes an expert panel discussion and hands-on training in drafting an argument to prepare residents to engage in advocacy beyond the clinic walls. Check out our shout-out by the CO AAP here.

In addition to workshops and experiential learning, residents are provided lectures and readings to reinforce concepts related to race and racism in medicine and social determinants of health. In response to the lack of anti-racist education available for medical trainees, Dr. Claudia Douglas, an alum (class of 2020) of the University of Colorado (CU) Med-Peds program, developed and piloted a Race in Medicine curriculum in collaboration with Dr. Daniel Goldberg, a public health ethicist at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado. Since spring of 2020, this anti-racist curriculum has been integrated into the CU Med-Peds residency’s regular academic education. The longitudinal Race in Medicine curriculum is delivered on a quarterly basis during residency-wide Academic Half Day education sessions. Each session is split into an interactive lecture portion and a discussion portion. Lectures cover a range of topics, including the historical roots of stigma, racism and bias in medicine and their influence on the relationship between people of color and the healthcare system.