Cultivating Change Makers

In 2018, our program launched a longitudinal curriculum, Colorado REACH (Recognize & address health disparities, Elevate voices, Advocate for all, Create time and space with communities, and Humanize care) 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.

Advocacy is a thread throughout a resident’s training. In addition to built-in advocacy sessions in our Med-Peds academic half days, residents can participate in two different advocacy rotations. In addition, our program has a strong partnership both with the Colorado American Academic of Pediatric and the Colorado American College of Physicians (ACP). Each year, our program selects a Section on Pediatric Trainees (SOPT) Delegate to represent our residency program. This position comes with the opportunity to be a leader in the program and to participate in the annual AAP National Conference. Each year, our residency also sends one resident to participate in the American College of Physicians (ACP) Leadership Day in Washington, D.C.

All our residents are invited to join our resident-led CARE committee, which was created to provide guidance, structure and support for advocacy during residency. Throughout the academic year, residents are exposed to different advocacy sessions, including 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 health disparities, bias in medicine, and the social determinants of health. In response to the limited education available on structural inequities in healthcare, Dr. Claudia Douglas, an alum (class of 2020) of the University of Colorado (CU) Med-Peds program, developed and piloted a curriculum focused on equity and inclusion 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 curriculum addressing systemic barriers in healthcare has been integrated into the CU Med-Peds residency’s regular academic education. The longitudinal 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, discrimination, and bias in medicine and their influence on the relationship between marginalized communities and the healthcare system.