The 3rd annual Medicine Immersion Day, a community event focused on introducing Black and other Utahns of color to the field of medicine, is coming up in September, and Intermountain Health and Black Physicians of Utah are once again collaborating to empowering potential caregivers to learn more about healthcare careers.
Intermountain Alta View Hospital in Sandy, Utah will host the event on Saturday, Sept 7 and provides the opportunity for Black and other young people, ages 16-25, to learn more to pursue a career or in various medical specialties.
“Alta View Hospital is proud to partner with Black Physicians of Utah,” said Scott Roberson, president of Intermountain Alta View Hospital. “Our hope is that this immersive Medicine Day will inspire young Black students and other students of color to consider careers in medicine,”.
A recent report, In the Nation’s Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health-Care Workforce, reported that increasing ethnic and racial diversity among health professionals is important because evidence indicates that diversity is associated with improved access to care for racial and ethnic minority patients, greater patient choice and satisfaction, and better educational experiences for health professions-based students, among other benefits.
A recent report from Kaiser Health News show that medical schools around the country are working to recruit Black, Hispanic, and Native American students, all of whom are underrepresented in the field of medicine. Research has shown that patients of color often prefer seeing doctors of color.
“Since education and vocation are such important social determinants of health, inspiring Black youth to consider a career in medicine goes a long way toward fulfilling our mission of helping people live the healthiest lives possible,” said Roberson.
This full day event at Intermountain Alta View Hospital encompasses various workshops, panels, and more, to fully immerse students into a day in the life of a physician.
Students are welcomed and have opportunities to participate in breakout groups where they can experience specialties such as labor and delivery, scrub in and visit an operating room, where they will learn about its procedures and anesthesia, as well as a hands-on simulation where they will learn to perform sutures.
Additionally, students will have the opportunity to attend a job fair with leading healthcare and biotechnology organizations that includes Intermountain Health, Select Health Insurance, ARUP Laboratories and Myriad Genetics.
Students will not only experience life in the day of physicians of color but will have the chance to gain paid clinical experience through positions at the Medicine Immersion Day Job Fair.
These opportunities allow students to better understand the experiences of Black physicians and physicians of color that found their paths into medicine, ask questions, and receive advice.
“I strongly believe in the saying, ‘If you can see it, you can be it’,” said Richard Ferguson, MD, president and founder of Black Physicians of Utah. “Mentorship by Black physicians and other providers of color gives guidance and opportunities to marginalized groups, like African Americans in Utah, who are often overlooked or dismissed. I would not be where I am today if it were not for the mentors who fostered my interests in science and medicine at an early age.”
Medicine Immersion Day will continue to evolve as an annual event and be a resource to students of color throughout the community in Utah.
The deadline for registration is September 4. Those interested in registering can get more information at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/933616781927?aff=oddtdtcreator.
About Intermountain Health
Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 34 hospitals, 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For more information or updates, see https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.
