Larner First Year Medical Student Orientation Information
Overview
The modules assigned to you by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are a foundational part of the Finding Our Common Ground Curriculum. Finding Our Common Ground provides a framework for enhancing your knowledge of concepts related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Knowledge of these concepts is essential to living in a diverse community, such as ours, as well as to your success as a future physician. This framework is based on UVM’s Our Common Ground statement of principles as well as Larner's Statement on Medical Professionalism, both of which guide us as members of the UVM community.
The Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (ODEI) has been using the following foundational tools for faculty, staff and students since 2015 (your course pre-work). We use the term "cultural humility,” which is a lifelong process of self-reflection and self-critique where you first examine your own beliefs and cultural identities, instead of "cultural competence", which is the term commonly used in medicine. However, the overarching ideas are the same: success in cross-cultural situations is dependent upon building strong skills and knowledge of cultural commonalities and/or cultural differences. This first requires an individual to examine where they are on the intercultural development continuum.
The program was developed based on the framework that cultural humility development is best achieved when it takes place over time and begins with engaging people in reflecting on their own identities, attitudes and commitment to this work. Over the next four years, you will have the opportunity to reflect on the influences that have shaped your various identities. Through these reflections you can improve your chances of success as a member of a diverse class as well as a physician in an increasingly multicultural world.
Our office has chosen two activities designed to help create a culture of inclusive excellence and develop the cultural humility skills necessary for working in environments with diverse people and perspectives. We encourage you to spend time and reflect on your own individual identities as you complete these first steps.
Pre-Work
Complete the Diversity Inclusion & Belonging E-Module (Via Vector Solutions)
Completion date: August 01
This course introduces key concepts such as inclusion, communication and bias, as well as strategies related to ally behavior, self-care, and creating inclusive spaces. The course will communicate and provide tools to help meet expectations of being an engaged member of a diverse and inclusive community and knowledge to reduce the negative effects of bias.
Once our training launches, you will receive an email to your UVM account from Vector with the subject line, “You have been assigned a training - University of Vermont” with a personalized link to get started (@uvm.edu email address). The link in the email will prompt you to create an account using netid@uvm.edu as the username and a VectorSolutions password of your choosing. If you lost the email or can't find it (it may land in your spam folder), you can still access the learning modules via the UVM Vector Solutions sign-in platform beginning June 26. The module should not take more than an hour.
If you have any issues accessing the courses or have technical questions, please contact Krista Koeller, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Program Specialist, or Vector Customer Care and a representative will assist you directly.
If you have questions regarding course content or LCOM-specific needs, please get in touch with your Medical Student Services Team.
Complete Intercultural Development Inventory (via IDI platform)
Completion date: August 01
The Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®) is the premier cross-cultural assessment of intercultural competence that is used by thousands of individuals and organizations to build intercultural competence to achieve international and domestic diversity and inclusion goals and outcomes. IDI research in organizations and educational institutions confirms two central findings when using the IDI:
· Interculturally competent behavior occurs at a level supported by the individual’s or group’s underlying orientation as assessed by the IDI.
· Training and leadership development efforts at building intercultural competence are more successful when they are based on the individual’s or group’s underlying developmental orientation as assessed by the IDI.
The link for the IDI will be sent to your UVM email address and will come from idiadmin@idiassessment.com. If you do not receive a link, please contact Krista Koeller, Program Specialist in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Once you complete the inventory, you will be sent an email with your results and an invitation to complete the online debrief. Please review your results and complete the online debrief prior to orientation.
If you have questions regarding course content or LCOM-specific needs, please get in touch with your Medical Student Services Team.
Orientation
The office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will be leading orientation activities Wednesday, August 7th, 2024. Finding Our Common Ground from 7:50-9:30 will give you a chance to meet the people in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, give you resources for making the most of your time at Larner, and facilitate reflection on the Diversity Inclusion and Belonging module. From 9:30-10:30, you will be led by the office Director in a debrief of the Intercultural Development Inventory in which you will reflect on your own identity and your relationship to others. From 10:45-11:45, there will be a keynote speech on imposter syndrome given by the UVM Medical Center's Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
ODEI Orientation Schedule
Wednesday, August 7th, 2024
7:50am - 9:30am: MedEd100: Finding Our Common Ground
9:30am - 10:30am: MedEd100: Intercultural Development Inventory Debrief
10:45am - 11:45am: MedEd200: ODEI Orientation Keynote