skip to page content
Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government
Veterans Benefits and Health Care About VA Find a VA Location

Health Services Research & Development

Go to the ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR&D Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

A Virtual National Diversity Mentoring Initiative to Promote Inclusion in Emergency Medicine.

Carrillo T, Rodriguez LM, Landry A, Alvarez A, Ceniza A, Gay R, Green A, Faiz J. A Virtual National Diversity Mentoring Initiative to Promote Inclusion in Emergency Medicine. The western journal of emergency medicine. 2023 Jul 12; 24(4):662-667.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions


Abstract:

INTRODUCTION: Trainees underrepresented in medicine (URiM) face additional challenges seeking community in predominantly white academic spaces, as they juggle the effects of institutional, interpersonal, and internalized racism while undergoing medical training. To offer support and a space to share these unique experiences, mentorship for URiM trainees is essential. However, URiM trainees have limited access to mentorship from URiM faculty. To address this gap, we developed a national virtual mentoring program that paired URiM trainees interested in emergency medicine (EM) with experienced mentors. METHODS: We describe the implementation of a virtual Diversity Mentoring Initiative (DMI) geared toward supporting URiM trainees interested in EM. The program development involved 1) partnering of national EM organizations to obtain funding; (2) identifying a comprehensive platform to facilitate participant communication, artificial intelligence-enabled matching, and ongoing data collection; 3) focusing on targeted recruitment of URiM trainees; and (4) fostering regular leadership meeting cadence to customize the platform and optimize the mentorship experience. CONCLUSION: We found that by using a virtual platform, the DMI enhanced the efficiency of mentor-mentee pairing, tailored matches based on participants' interests and the bandwidth of mentors, and successfully established cross-institutional connections to support the mentorship needs of URiM trainees.




Questions about the HSR&D website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.