Health Equity Curricular Toolkit

The Health Equity Curricular Toolkit was championed by the Health Equity Team of Family Medicine for America’s Health and inspired by the Starfield II Health Equity Summit. This toolkit provides a structured curricular tool to facilitate exploration of some of the most pressing questions around social determinants of health, vulnerable populations, and economics and policy. The toolkit also provides resources to promote skill-building to confront drivers of persistent and pervasive inequities.

This toolkit is intended for clinical and public health learners and primary care faculty who would like an opportunity to further explore this area that often was not intentionally and adequately prioritized in past medical school and residency curricula.

The Guidebook to the Health Equity Curricular Toolkit includes a description of the socio-ecologic framework; the modular design; facilitation strategies; a glossary of definitions and health equity resources; and a worksheet to promote real-time application of an equity lens. This is accompanied by 14 modules including an introductory prerequisite 2-part module. Three short videos were also developed to assist with use of the toolkit.

Guidebook

• A Guidebook to the Health Equity Curricular Toolkit

Introductory Prerequisite 2-part Module

• Making America Healthier for All: What Each of Us Can Do (Part 1) AND Shifting the Paradigm Toward Social Accountability (Part 2)

Health Equity Modules

Social Determinants of Health Modules

• Identifying and Addressing Patients' Social and Economic Needs in the Context of Clinical Care
• Communities Working Together to Improve Health and Reduce Disparities AND Community Health Improvement Plans and Patient-Centered Primary Care Homes as Tools to Address Health Disparities
• Improving Patient Outcomes by Enhancing Student Understanding of Social Determinants of Health AND An Action Learning Approach to Teaching the Social Determinants of Health
• Understanding Health Experiences and Values to Address Social Determinants of Health

Vulnerable Population Modules

• Climate Change Module
• Why Rural Matters
• Racism, Sexism, and Unconscious Bias
• Immigrant Populations in a Nation of Changing Policy
• Intersectionality—The Interconnectedness of Class, Gender, Race and other Types of Vulnerability
• People with Disabilities (Developmental and Intellectual)

Economics and Policy Modules

• International Efforts to Reduce Health Disparities
• How Social and Environmental Determinants Can Be Used to Pay Differently for Health Care AND ACA Opened the Door for Payment Reform and Practice Transformation to Address Social Determinants of Health, Now What?
• Community Vital Signs: Achieving Equity through Primary Care Means Checking More than Blood Pressure
• Access to Primary Care is Not Enough: A Health Equity Road Map

Supplemental Videos

• Orientation to the Health Equity Curricular Toolkit
• Facilitating Conversations about Inequity, Oppression, and Privilege
• Application of the Equity and Empowerment Lens for Facilitators and Learners

Almost 40 content experts and educators in health equity across the United States and Canada helped develop the material for this toolkit and specific author information is provided in the Guidebook of the toolkit

More information about the Health Equity Team of Family Medicine for America’s Health can be found in: Martinez-Bianchi V, Frank B, Edgoose J, Michener L, Rodriguez M, Gottlieb L, Reddick B, Kelly C, Yu K, Davis S. Carr J, Lee JW, Smith KL, New RD. Addressing Family Medicine’s Capacity to Improve Health Equity through Collaboration, Accountability and Coalition-Building. Fam Med.2019;51(2):198-203.