Duke Orthopaedics is recognized nationally as one of the most diverse orthopaedic departments, with unparalleled engagement among faculty, residents, and staff in promoting inclusion and health equity. While progress has been made, opportunities remain to enhance the department's culture of belonging, assess resource equity, and ensure the ongoing support and sustainability of EDI programming.
Orthopaedic Inclusion Workforce
The mission of the Duke Orthopaedics Inclusion Workforce is to ensure that the best and the brightest individuals are represented within orthopedics and given an equitable opportunity to make invaluable contributions to the advancements in musculoskeletal healthcare. The OIW works to emphasize workplace inclusion and civility within our department and strives to increase cultural awareness and representation for improved health literacy, improved patient-provider communication and trust, and more efficient access to the delivery of care.
Accepted Charges
- Connect diverse students with mentors and facilitate exposure to orthopaedic surgery (Medical Education Experience)
- Build a department culture that embraces diversity and inclusion (Faculty Experience)
- Transform Duke Orthopaedics to represent the changing cultures of our patients, positively impacting the delivery of musculoskeletal care (Patient Experience)
Guiding Principles
Inclusion
We are committed to creating an inclusive culture within our department to allow diverse individuals to thrive on both training and faculty levels.
Equity
The goal is that diverse individuals be afforded truly equitable opportunities for excellence without exclusion from majority programs or protocols.
Respect
Discrimination based on gender or ethnic background will not be tolerated by any department member, whether in the form of overt bias or micro-aggressions.
Accountability
Department and committee leaders will be responsible for implementing and supporting outlined initiatives.
DPT DiversiTea Newsletter
The Duke DPT DiversiTea Newsletter was envisioned to create a sustainable, interactive collection of work that embodies diversity, equity, and inclusion. Content for each newsletter can be submitted by students, faculty, and/or staff; submissions contain historical and current events, and the content is multimodal, including art, music, literature, dance, etc. A DiversiTea & Coffee session follows publication when people gather and discuss their favorite pieces and talk about how to apply them to the practice of physical therapy. View the newsletter.
Inspired by the amazing video highlighting Black women physicians at Emory University’s School of Medicine, the Duke University School of Medicine’s DPT and OTD programs celebrate Black History Month.
Perry Initiative
There are more than 20,000 practicing orthopaedic surgeons in the United States. Orthopaedic surgery has been cited as being one of the least diverse specialties. Despite over 50% of medical students being female, only 15% of orthopaedic surgery residents are female, and less than 6% of practicing orthopaedic surgeons are female. Discussions and actions needed to address this issue can be challenging.