At LG Health Physicians Neuropsychology, diversity, equitable treatment, access, and inclusion are essential aspects of our core values and we are committed to excellence in this area.
As neuropsychologists on the precipice of our field, we firmly believe in active participation and attendance to address issues of individual equitability and cultural diversity and inclusiveness. We consider diversity in our work and training paramount and as a faculty, we embody a position of cultural humility, in which a heightened awareness of interpersonal orientation and cultural identity is principal. Further, we understand that there is no end goal in regard to achieving cultural humility; rather, it is a continuous and ever evolving process in which we must be actively and inquisitively engaged.
We make every effort to be an inclusive community, and with this goal in the forefront, we recruit, retain, and inspire faculty and trainees from diverse backgrounds. The American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology’s 2050 initiative has posited a plan to “support new assessment methods, training models, mid-career supervision models, and clinical strategies that any practitioner can access in order to begin to substantially increase the percentage of patients we, and the generation of neuropsychologists who follow us, are able to competently serve”. With regard to this goal, LGHP Neuropsychology is committed to aggressively recruiting and training neuropsychologists of diverse cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic, and spiritual backgrounds.
Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Clinical Excellence Committee purposefully engage in evidence-based discussions surrounding the integration of diversity equity and inclusion into all facets of our departmental decision making and professional recruitment and retention. This committee is also committed to facilitating team wide discussions about difficult subject matter, including optimization for services to non-English speaking patients, providing inclusive care to those that identify as LGTBQIA+ as well as patients with religious minority status, and optimizing care for aging members of the community. Additionally, our department has contacted Penn Medicine Language Services to translate patient recommendation documents and results to ensure adequate understanding.
Currently, our DEI Clinical Excellence Committee is working on a number of initiatives aimed at creating more culturally equitable experience for our patients of different backgrounds and abilities including:
- The creation of normative data for Spanish speaking and Nepali speaking patients for the Alzheimer’s and Memory Care Clinic neuropsychological assessment battery.
- The incorporation of modified and adaptive writing instruments for our differently abled patients.
- The hiring and training of a Spanish speaking psychometrist to better meet the needs of our Spanish speaking patients.
- The incorporation of multidisciplinary didactics and training opportunities aimed at teaching our staff and students more adaptive ways to have discussions to increase individual comfortability with identifying vulnerabilities and challenging bias constructively.
- Including pronoun badges on staff and students to increase patient comfortability.