Supporting Educational Excellence in Diversity (SEED): faculty development and allyship

Bias, privilege, microaggressions, and other forms of mistreatment negatively impact students' learning, professional development, wellness, and identity. Supporting Educational Excellence in Diversity (SEED) is an innovative faculty development curriculum co-founded and co-designed by medical students/trainees. SEED is unique given it provides vital yet practical communication tools and strategies to support cultural humility when navigating critical conversations related to diversity, inclusion, and harm.

This curriculum helps faculty to identify, redress, and prevent mistreatment within clinical and non-clinical learning environments while cultivating cultural humility.

SEED incorporated a sequential hybrid model approach through the use of interactive online modules, virtual asynchronous self-reflection assignments, followed by in-person discussions with role-play opportunities. Using novel tools, it taught faculty core knowledge and strategies to facilitate discussions in navigating harms related to diversity and inclusion. Authors measured impact via self-reported, de-identified pre-and-post questionnaires.

An idependent t-test analysis pre-post-test study of 67 faculty participants revealed statistically significant (P < .001) differences from pre to post on all items with one item statistically significant at a p < .05. The overall effect size was 1.65 showing significant improvement in participants' self-perceived ability to identify and address microaggressions, privilege, sources of bias, and related harm in the clinical and learning environments. These improvements were identified within themselves, faculty peers, teaching curricula, and teaching modalities. SEED was adopted health system-wide through customized departmental faculty offerings given the statistically and practically significant change in learning, awareness, and attitudes for respondents. SEED is currently under consideration as a maintenance of certification self-assessment course by a national board.

The innovative SEED faculty development curriculum was co-created and designed by students/trainees. SEED shows promising results in improving participants' foundational learning in promoting inclusive change to enhance learning environments for healthcare trainees. SEED is unique in providing vital yet practical communication tools and strategies to support cultural humility when navigating critical conversations related to diversity, inclusion, and harm.