QHS EDIIA Action Plan

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Pillar 1

Outreach and Summer Program

  • Deliver the QHS Outreach and Summer Program to support and mentor high school students in the Kingston and surrounding area. 
  • Commit to sustaining and developing QHS outreach programming long term through partnerships that support targeted recruitment.
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Pillar 2

Admissions

  • Minimize systemic barriers faced by applicants through equitable and inclusive admission and transition processes.
  • Dismantle discrimination and biases faced by applicants through equitable and inclusive selection processes.
  • Advance equity-oriented data collection, stewardship, and reporting across QHS. 
  • Improve transparency through public communication regarding QHS EDIIA initiatives.
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Pillar 3

Recruitment

  • Enhance resources and opportunities afforded to prospective equity-deserving learners.
  • Improve QHS staff and faculty hiring policies and processes to enhance representation.
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Pillar 4

Retention

  • Improve equity-deserving learner retention rates in QHS.
  • Create a culturally safe and respectful workplace for all QHS employees.
  • Implement equitable and inclusive policies and practices to increase staff and faculty retention. 
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Pillar 5

Mentorship

  • Formalize mentorship opportunities for QHS learners and create formal mentorship frameworks between learners and faculty. 
  • Build mentorship resources for faculty to strengthen mentorship relationships that foster positive and safe experiences. 
  • Assemble and sustain mentorship opportunities for interprofessional staff and faculty mentorship.
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Pillar 6

Curriculum

  • Adapt and implement the QHS Inclusive Curriculum Model. 
  • Advance an EDIIA interprofessional approach to QHS curriculum. 
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Pillar 7

Professional Development

  • Develop infrastructure to formalize QHS EDIIA-related professional development. 
  • Identify QHS mentors/allies to support EDIIA-focused professional development.
  • Ensure QHS EDIIA-related professional development programming is based on evidence-based practices. 
  • Build, integrate, and ensure the uptake of mandatory and evidence-based EDIIA training in QHS.
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Pillar 8

Research

  • Provide QHS researchers with the infrastructure and resources to engage with EDIIA principles and practices in their research. 
  • Increase QHS research funding that values EDIIA-informed research. 
  • Track and communicate QHS EDIIA research and representation in research activities. 
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Pillar 9

Culture and Community

  • Prioritize an equitable and inclusive cultural shift across QHS. 
  • Ensure the collaborative implementation and sustainability of the QHS Champion Program.

View The Plan

QHS EDIIA Action Plan
QHS EDIIA Action Plan

Progress of QHS EDIIA Action Plan

The QHS EDIIA Action Plan provides the Faculty with the detailed course of action that was created through our Dean’s Action Table for EDI. It provides the path towards a more equitable and inclusive cultural shift over the next 5 years. The QHS Office of Equity and Social Accountability will be monitor progress and advocate for effective implementation of the goals and actions outlined in the QHS EDIIA Action Plan. An annual status report will be released to demonstrate accountability to QHS learners, staff, faculty, and alumni. 

 

QHS EDIIA Action Plan Progress

QHS EDIIA Action Committees

The Queen’s Health Sciences (QHS) Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Indigeneity, and Accessibility (EDIIA) Action Committees have a mandate to oversee the implementation the goals and recommendations developed by the Dean’s Action Table on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion as outlined in the QHS EDIIA Action Plan. The QHS EDIIA Action Committees will strive to create and sustain a more equitable, diverse, inclusive, accessible, and culturally safe community for students, staff, and faculty in QHS using an intersectional and anti-oppression framework to inform the implementation of the QHS EDIIA Action Plan. 

The QHS EDII Action Committees will designated based on the following areas:

  • Learners Admissions, Recruitment, and Retention
  • Mentorship
  • Human Resources
  • Inclusive Curriculum

In addition, a QHS Black Advisory Committee and QHS EDIIA Accountability Committee will be formed to advise on the implementation of the QHS EDIIA Action Plan. 

Please reach out to valarezo@queensu.ca for any questions regarding these committees. 

Champion Forum

The QHS Champion Forum aims to form a closer-knit community committed to EDIIA with the focus on transforming QHS structures for accessibility, inclusivity, and belonging while embedding equity, inclusion, and anti-racism into education, research, and care.  Members (e.g. Departmental EDIIA Committees, Program EDIIA leads) will help to ingrain EDIIA principles into the culture of QHS to establish and sustain a culturally safe and inclusive environment by:

  • Sustaining a QHS Community of Support
  • Communicating EDIIA Initiatives to their respective departments/programs
  • Sharing Resources
  • Advancing Social Accountability (e.g. QHS EDIIA Action Plan)

Work In Action

Reports

  1. Student Engagemnet with Indigenous Rights holders on Queen's Health Sciences' Inclusive Curriculum Model: Final Report
  2. Student Advocacy Guide

Peer Reviewed Publications

  1. Liblik K., Desai V., Yin G., Ng R., Maho S., Cohen N., and Soleas E.K. (Accepted) Professional Development in Health Sciences: Scoping Review on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Indigeneity, and Accessibility Interventions. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions.

Conference Presentations

  1. Carroll, B., Soleas, E., Truong, R. (2023, July 1-5). Building a path of learning: Cultivating inclusive nursing curricula across three stages of learning [Poster presentation]. International Council of Nurses Congress, Montreal, PQ, Canada. [URL forthcoming]

Studies

  1. Responsible Conduct of Research through an Accessibility and Inclusion Lens. Funded by Accessibility Standards Canada, Advancing Accessibility Standards Research Program. PI: Dr. Mahadeo A. Sukhai Host Organization: Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB)