Governor Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5228 into law Thursday, requiring public medical schools in Washington to establish health equity curriculum as part of their instruction.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Emily Randall, directs medical schools to include instruction on health disparities, intercultural communication skills training, cultural safety training, and implicit bias into their curriculum. It also requires them to establish a goal for student representation and report annually on that goal.
WSU is already in compliance with the curriculum requirements of the bill and supported the measure as it navigated the legislative process. The Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine’s instruction already includes components relating to bias, racism in medicine, sexism in medicine, health equity in population health, navigating bias in the workplace, LGBTQ health disparities, ethics of access to health care, caring for patients with disabilities, and health literacy and language barriers.