Residency Climate and Community

The UNC Family Medicine Residency is committed to promoting a culture that gives our residents the confidence and the cognitive and emotional space in a safe, supportive environment. We have several programs and initiatives that serve to bridge gaps and reinforce relationships that will sustain and strengthen our residents as they navigate major career milestones while forging a healthy balance between personal identity and professional identity:

• Quarterly department-wide activities related to building community and fostering team-building.
• Elected class liaisons – A faculty member is elected by each class to follow that class throughout residency and serve as an extra layer of access to mentoring and support not connected to clinical or academic performance or advancement. Each class gets protected time to meet monthly with their faculty liaison on the first Wednesday during the hour preceding RBM.
• The ReCCC (Residency Climate and Community Collaborative) composed of representatives from each residency class and continuity site. This initiative was started to promote and protect a climate of communication and trust where all learners feel supported, valued, and included regardless of background, identity, or belief system. The ReCCC meets monthly on the 4^th Thursday at 4 pm and has become a safe space for residents to discuss issues of concern. Affinity group leaders are invited to attend, along with the department Director of Academic Success. The Director of Academic Success for the residency coordinates and chairs this group and reports monthly to the residency and administrative/executive leadership to ensure open lines of communication and support timely responses to issues of concern.

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  Resident Affinity Groups have been launched to create spaces in which our residents feel embraced within the department’s diverse environment, and to facilitate more opportunities for groups of residents to coalesce in support of common identities, interests, and/or goals. These groups have protected time to meet quarterly and are provided a stipend to facilitate gatherings outside of the work environment for community-building and/or service activities to strengthen their shared identity.

• Quarterly faculty training is implemented for affinity group facilitation and creating psychologically safe spaces for resident mentoring and advising.

An 18-month rotating curriculum called HEALS (Health for Everyone, Access, and Leadership Series) was created to better engage residents with caring and advocating for the variety of communities of Carolinians we serve.