The development of acurrent events and dialogue forum at alarge U.S. academic medical center.

Abstract

The Vanderbilt Community Circle (VC2) was designed to provide all faculty, staff, and students within the entire Vanderbilt University Medical Center community adedicated venue to discuss current events and ongoing societal issues. During the 2017-18 academic year, four VC2 events were held on: "Race, identity, and conflict in America," "Gun violence in America," "Gender in the workplace," and "Immigration in America." Facilitators guided participants to share their views and perspectives on these matters with pre-developed open-ended questions. Attendees started discussions in small groups and then eventually combined into alarge one. Pre- and post-event surveys were administered to measure the program's effectiveness. One-hundred and twenty-four participants were included, 75 of whom completed both the pre- and post-event surveys. Sixty-four of the 75 (85%) agreed or strongly agreed that "multiple perspectives and opinions were represented" and 73% felt that their "own perspective was broadened on the issue." Most (89%) believed that the format and setting of the event was conducive to dialogue and discussion, and almost all (91%) reported that they would attend asimilar event in the future. Groningen Reflection Ability Scale scores were high before (94 [25th-75th: 88-99]) and remained high after the events (93 [25th-75th: 88-93.3], p > 0.05). We successfully implemented amedical center-wide, recurring current events and dialogue forum in hopes of increasing reflection, unity, and understanding across our own community.