Social impact and belonging are central to the missions of UW Health and the UW School of Medicine and Public Health in meeting the health needs of the people of Wisconsin and beyond through excellence in education, research, patient care, and service.
As a department, we are creating a culture of belonging that uplifts every team member, honors every patient’s story, and advances the health and well-being of the communities we serve through social impact. To this end, the BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine strives to:
- Promote fair access to quality health care through teaching, discovery, and advocacy.
- Care for all patients compassionately and without bias or discrimination.
- Integrate cross-cultural education and intercultural communication skills into our curriculum to prepare learners to provide inclusive, patient-centered care.
- Lead research and quality improvement efforts that identify and address social and structural drivers of inequities in emergency care.
- Foster local and global partnerships with community health services to enhance care and support holistic well-being beyond the emergency care setting.
- Recruit and support exceptional faculty, learners, staff, and other health care professionals from diverse backgrounds and experiences.
“We believe that improving health equity begins with critically reflecting on existing structural inequities that lead to differences in care. In that spirit, we are focused on integrating a health equity lens across the departmental missions of education, research, and patient care. Learners and trainees at all levels are an essential component in this equation, and we are committed to providing the necessary sponsorship to help them thrive in our community and grow into future health equity leaders.”
Ryan Tsuchida, MD, he/him (hear my name)
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
Assistant Dean of Multicultural Affairs for Health Professions Learners, UW School of Medicine and Public Health
Cultural competency curriculum
We recognize the importance of cultural humility in our role as emergency physicians, as well as the importance of establishing enduring connections with our community. Our cultural competency curriculum begins with core concepts but advances to explore the unique care needs of underserved and vulnerable patient populations.
Components:
- Didactics and journal clubs
- Invited expert lecturers, community organizers, and patient panels
- Simulation training and experiential workshops
- Book clubs and newsletter writing opportunities
This cultural competency training equips residents with the knowledge and skills to best meet the needs of patients and caregivers, while working in a complex health care system. By focusing on stereotyping and implicit biases, health disparities and cross-cultural communication, we instill in our residents a lifelong commitment to providing exceptional patient care while understanding and addressing social determinants of health.
Our longitudinal quality improvement curriculum also offers residents the opportunity to consider health equity projects impacting health care disparities.
"I’m passionate about care without conditions.
David Tillman, MD
Patients don’t have to earn our best efforts."
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine
Associate Dean of MD Admissions, UW School of Medicine and Public Health
Social Emergency Medicine
Our program is devoted to identifying and addressing the social determinants of health that have an impact on the health and general quality of life of our patients.
Many of our faculty, APPs, residents, and department staff are involved with community-based programs in Madison and the surrounding area in order to serve and better understand the resources available for patients who have a variety of social needs — from unstable housing, food insecurity, substance use, social isolation, and more.
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MEDiC Clinics
DEM faculty and residents devote four Saturdays each year to volunteering at free health care clinics with the MEDiC program.
This initiative created by the UW School of Medicine and Public Health that aims to improve the health of the most underserved populations in the Madison area while enhancing the education of UW health professions students.
Service to the Community
Many residents engage in service and advocacy work independently or through our department-led social impact and belonging efforts.
Street Medicine
The core idea behind street medicine is to interact with people who are homeless on their terms and in their current location in order to minimize or remove any obstacles to care access. In order to foster trust-building with this socially marginalized and extremely vulnerable community, it is imperative to go to them where they reside, whether those places be under bridges, in urban encampments, or in alleyways. Our faculty, residents, and APPs work with local organizations to bring health care to people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the Madison community.
Civic Health
Our emergency departments offer patients, visitors, and staff the opportunity to register to vote on-site in our ED waiting rooms through a nonpartisan, non-interruptive voter registration system.
Civic health promotion in the department is led by Marin Darsie, MD, assistant professor of emergency medicine and neurosurgery.
Each year at graduation, the BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine recognizes its faculty and residents who go above and beyond in the realms of advocacy and community service.
Many of our residents have also even been recognized for their efforts at the state level, receiving the annual Howard J. Croft Resident Advocate Award from the Wisconsin chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians (WACEP).
