Social Accountability in action - SA

CityStudio Ottawa

CityStudio Ottawa is a formal trust-based partnership between the Community Engagement Team and Faculty of Medicine at University of Ottawa, and the City of Ottawa. Through co-creation with our community, students, and faculty, CityStudio Ottawa finds creative solutions to Ottawa’s priority challenges highlighted in the City of Ottawa’s Community Safety and Well-Being (CSWB) Plan.

These six priorities, identified through a consultative process with stakeholders and the public, are:

Discrimination, marginalization, and racism
Financial security and poverty reduction
Gender-based violence and violence against women
Housing
Integrated and simpler systems
Mental well-being

Together, CityStudio Ottawa will work towards a more inclusive, sustainable, and healthier city.

Canadian Carnegie community engagement classification pilot

The University of Ottawa has committed to increasing its engagement with communities through our participation in the Canadian Community Engagement Classification – Canadian Pilot Cohort. The penultimate Canadian Carnegie Community Engagement Classification will be launched in 2022 and will establish a framework for enhancing community-campus engagement across Canadian post-secondary institutions.

Environmental scan

Environmental Scan of Faculty of Medicine Leadership in Social Accountability

We conducted a robust environmental scan of social accountability across the Faculty of Medicine that:

Identified champions
Provided a mechanism to initiate dialogue
Served as a platform for culture change

The environmental scan has also highlighted how committed we are in advancing our values focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, professionalism and respect, all key elements to better engage with our communities and ensure impactful and diverse partnerships.

Expanding Social Accountability across our curriculum

Integrating Social Accountability into Biomedical and Basic Science Research

While the concept of social accountability has been well described as an important part of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, its application to basic science research initiatives has been less clearly articulated.

Dr. Nadine Wiper-Bergeron, Assistant Dean Graduate Studies, and Dr. Alain Stintzi, Vice-Dean Graduate Studies, course coordinators for MED8166, collaborated with Dr. Claire Kendall, Associate Dean Social Accountability, to develop an innovative approach to address this gap by creating a more socially accountable graduate program.

For more information, kindly review the terms of reference.

UGME curriculum renewal

The Faculty of Medicine is currently undergoing a comprehensive renewal of the Undergraduate Medical Education curriculum.

As part of this renewal process, and reflecting our commitment to social accountability, the Office of Social Accountability led a Social Accountability Working Group that developed a set of recommendations for enhancing social accountability curriculum in the MD program. This working group is comprised of diverse faculty members, students, and community members. One of these meetings was a community consultation with Community Service Learning placement organizations who hosted UGME students for 30 hour placements over the past 3 academic years.

The Social Accountability Working Group’s report can be found here.

Concentration in Global Health and Social Accountability

The Concentration in Global Health and Social Accountability is open to all Faculty of Medicine learners. The concentration is comprised of a set of experiential learning activities that students can select and complete based on their specific interests.

The benefits of participating in the concentration include:

Learning about diverse global health and social accountability issues and topics
Networking with peers and professionals who are working and studying in the field of global health and/or working to improve the health and health equity of marginalized populations in Canada
Gaining skills and experience to advance future career prospects in related fields

The concentration may be completed over a period of 1-4 years.

For more information and to register, go to Concentration in Global Health and Social Accountability.

Student-led initiatives

Social Accountability student advisory committee

The Social Accountability Student Advisory Committee (SASAC) is a student-driven committee designed to voice the student opinion to faculty leadership on issues surrounding social accountability. In addition to being a valuable resource for the student perspective on social accountability curriculum and activities, they also lead initiatives of importance to them with support from the Office.

NORTH Student-Led clinic

The Navigating Ottawa Resources to Improve Health (NORTH) clinic is a collaboration between medical and law students at the University of Ottawa, supported by social workers and faculty. This interdisciplinary clinic was established to address the social needs of Ottawa’s underserved communities such as housing, food insecurity and employment, by connecting referred clients to community-based and government resources.

Housed in the Vanier Social Pediatric Hub, NORTH enriches the experiential learning and interprofessional education of the participants through its strong focus on developing competence and proficiency in patient-centered care, collaboration and communication, leadership, and health advocacy.

Bringing mini medical school to retirement homes

In partnership with the Office of Continuing Professional Development and supported by a New Horizon’s grant, we are aiming to help reduce the social isolation of seniors by offering our Mini Medical (MiniMed) School virtual programming to local retirement residences.

A summer evening in a forest representing growth and renewal.