SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Fostering Relationships With Community Partners to Guide Inpatient Equity Work

Pdf Summary

This document describes a hospital equity project built through a partnership with the community-based organization GLIDE. The goal was to better understand the healthcare experiences and needs of marginalized community members and use that input to improve inpatient care.<br /><br />To do this, GLIDE facilitated pilot listening sessions with 27 compensated participants. The sessions were analyzed to identify major themes and recommendations for quality improvement. Six themes emerged, though the full list is not included in the excerpt.<br /><br />A key message of the project is that hospitals should not try to improve equity in isolation. Partnering with community-based organizations helps bring patient and community voices—especially from historically marginalized groups—into hospital improvement efforts. The authors emphasize that successful partnerships require institutional commitment, time to build trust, humility, and willingness to share power with community partners. They also note the importance of respecting the expertise of community organizations and letting them help guide the process.<br /><br />The document outlines steps for fostering these partnerships: identify a community partner, ask about their needs, determine first steps together, deepen the relationship over time, and then create opportunities to collaborate on inpatient equity work.<br /><br />One top recommendation from community members was to implement anti-racism and anti-discrimination training for healthcare workers, with an emphasis on kindness and empathy. Participants stressed that staff should be more compassionate and sensitive to patients’ circumstances, as poor treatment can worsen distress for vulnerable individuals.<br /><br />Overall, the project highlights that meaningful inpatient equity work depends on sustained, respectful collaboration with trusted community partners.

Asset Subtitle

Archna Eniasivam

Meta Tag

Author List Archna Eniasivam, Elizabeth W. Dzeng, Hannah Van Aelstyn, Holly Joshi, Ian James, Isoke Femi, James D. Harrison, Kira Maszweski, Martha Ockenfels-Martinez, Rabbi Michael Lezak

Category Innovations

Concept Patient Voice

Concept Community Voice

Concept Inpatient Equity Improvement

Concept Community-Based Organization

Concept Community Partnerships

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Ucsf

Presenting Author Archna Eniasivam

Track Other

Keywords

hospital equity

community partnership

GLIDE

marginalized communities

patient experience

listening sessions

inpatient care

anti-racism training

healthcare workers

quality improvement

Patient Voice

Community Voice

Inpatient Equity Improvement

Community-Based Organization

Community Partnerships