Healthcare Leadership: Leading with Equi

The events over year and a half have brought a renewed focus and an increased sense of urgency to recognize and address inequality in our society and institutions. These events have challenged organizational leaders to respond with comprehensive strategies to promote equity and embed racial and social justice within their organizational domains of influence. To achieve this and advance equity, an intentional and dedicated focus that recognizes the harmful effects of systemic inequities is required.

Historically in healthcare, structural inequities have resulted in disproportionately poor outcomes for marginalized groups in our society.  The intersections of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity gender expression, language, disability, religion and other characteristics further identifies disadvantages and poor outcomes for marginalized groups—notably those with less access to power and resources. Additionally, false notions of racial superiority, white supremacy culture, and explicit or implicit biases contribute to disparities in patient outcomes among people of color and other socially marginalized groups.

This course will explore how leaders are able to effectively advance health equity by dismantling systems of oppression and racism in health care. The focus will be to examine leadership imperatives to establish a collaborative consciousness to instill and promote just policies and practices. To this end, the course will require students to develop an understanding of self-identity and an awareness of how one’s individual actions impact interactions between colleagues, team members and others. The course will provide strategies for effective leaders to establish a foundation to advance diversity management, promote equity and establish inclusion best practices within organizations.  In particular, the emphasis will be on leadership accountability to initiate conversations and set forth strategic actions to sustain organizational change.