You said . . . We did . . .

We did... In my January 12, 2023 You Said, We Did newsletter, I shared information about different ways to report mistreatment and what the school does when we receive such reports. We held an in-person Town Hall on the Learning Environment on the evening of March 8 for all interested students. I encourage you to watch the presentations from the Town Hall if you could not attend. Below are a few key points from the discussion.

Number and types of reports: During the Town Hall, I presented data on the number of MD Program harassment, mistreatment, and discrimination reports between 2017 and 2022 during clerkship rotations. As you can see in the video, OB/GYN and Surgery have the greatest number of reports. While some reports describe a student’s experience of being treated harshly by team members, many describe incidents of residents being treated poorly by attendings, bias in the treatment of patients by nurses and other staff, and students being harassed or treated disrespectfully by patients.

The majority of our work on these issues has been within these two departments. The chairs of both OB/GYN and Surgery have engaged the Office of Academic and Professional Developmentto help with individual faculty members, and Yale New Haven Health System is working with us to address potential bias within staff. All departments are now meeting with students regularly to discuss their experiences, and faculty, residents, and fellows have been actively engaged in discussions about how to improve the learning environment in clinical settings.

This work is extremely important and will be ongoing; we are actively working to develop better ways to communicate with students and trainees about how these incidents are being handled and how the learning environment is being monitored to measure improvement. Read more.

We did... Preventing mistreatment, addressing lapses in professionalism, and having a transparent and supportive reporting process is a priority at YSM. We recognize that the process only will be effective, and you only will have confidence in it, if we do a better job providing you information about how and to whom you can share concerns and complaints about mistreatment, professionalism, or bias AND how the school addresses them.

How can you report a concern?

1. You can report a professionalism/mistreatment concern in real time, using this link, which we have embedded in five locations on the MD Program webpage, including toward the bottom of the Curriculum homepage. The Office of Academic and Professional Development (OAPD) receives these reports.
2. At the end of every curricular experience (course, clerkship, elective), you have the opportunity to complete an evaluation, which includes reporting any mistreatment, harassment, or bias you experienced or observed. Your reports are confidential and anonymous and are not visible to anyone who is evaluating you.
3. You may ALWAYS contact your course/clerkship/elective director, advisor, or any medical education dean if you have a concern that you would like to discuss. We will respect your confidentiality and discuss ways to approach or address your concerns.

What happens when you report a concern?

1. Reports to OAPD are responded to within two business days. OAPD’s first action will be to set up a time to talk with you about the concern and discuss options on how to respond to the concern, keeping in mind that confidentiality is often an important consideration. While OAPD’s purview is professionalism among YSM faculty, if your concern is not about a faculty member, OAPD staff will work with you to direct your concern to the group that can best address it. This OAPD summary provides additional information on how professionalism concerns are handled at YSM.
2. Reports embedded in curricular evaluations are reviewed on a quarterly basis by the Office of Curriculum and OAPD. The responsible department is required to produce an action plan in response to each report. In collaboration with Deputy Dean for Professionalism and Leadership Robert Rohrbaugh, Deputy Dean Illuzzi follows up with the chairs of each department to monitor progress in addressing issues of professionalism and conduct in the learning environment.

Deans Illuzzi and Schwartz are establishing a new Subcommittee of the Educational Policy and Curriculum Committee (EPCC) to regularly review reports of harassment, mistreatment or bias in the learning environment, departments’ responses, and outcomes and to provide recommendations to the EPCC. Students interested in joining this committee should contact Dean Schwartz (Michael.Schwartz@Yale.edu).

Click here for more details on OAPD’s role in promoting faculty professionalism.

We did... I want to share several updates and resources:

Safety and Security Committee: Last year, Yale School of Medicine created a Safety and Security Committee. Dean Francis serves on it, as does 5th-year MD student Carmen Pajarillo. The committee, which meets quarterly, welcomes your ideas and feedback on how to improve YSM's safety and security, which you can submit using this Qualtrics survey. The committee also created this webpage listing campus-wide safety and security resources, including the LiveSafe app and an active shooter video.

Blue security phone survey: The Safety and Security Committee recently discussed the blue security phones that are placed in outside locations throughout the Yale University campus. The phones have red emergency buttons for direct connection to the Yale Police Department for police, fire, or medical emergencies.

This map shows the locations of the 500+ existing phones.

Yale Public Safety asked for input on locations on, or even near, campus that would benefit from a blue phone. Please complete this Qualtrics survey asking for your input by Tuesday, February 21. We want to hear your suggestions since so many of you study, work, and live on and near the Yale campus.

South Frontage Road infrastructure improvement plans: We were pleased that the city hosted a public meeting on January 9 about plans to make South Frontage Road, from Howard Avenue to College Street, safer for pedestrians and cyclists through measures such as four raised crossings, narrowing the lanes, adding sidewalks, and adding a separated bike lane. Construction is expected to begin next year. This link from the city includes the Zoom recording of the meeting and a PowerPoint of the plans that were presented.

Vision Zero legislation: House Bill No. 5917, “An Act Implementing the Recommendations of the Vision Zero Council,” would enable municipalities in Connecticut to pass legislation to use automated enforcement in specified locations (high crash volumes, school zones, pedestrian safety zones), which would include the York Street and S. Frontage Road intersection, where speeding and red light running is rampant. We are grateful to fourth-year MD student Aishwarya Pillai for testifying passionately at the Transportation Committee hearing on January 30.

If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Abby Roth to learn more about the Yale Traffic Safety Committee.