Frequently Asked Questions
What is Senate Bill 5227?
SB 5227 was passed by the Washington State Legislature in 2021. It requires all public institutions of higher education to provide Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) training to all faculty and staff, beginning with the 2022-23 academic year.
Because UW Medicine is connected to the University of Washington, this bill applies to all of our faculty and staff.
UW Medicine’s interpretation of the specific requirements of SB5227 is:
- Beginning with the 2022-23 academic year, all NEW UW Medicine faculty and staff must take the training within one year of being hired.
- Beginning with the 2022-23 academic year, ALL faculty and staff must complete the training biannually.
- Everyone who completes the training MUST complete a brief satisfaction survey for credit. This survey is included at the end of the training.
Who is required to meet the requirements of SB5227?
All UW Medicine faculty and staff are required. This includes:
- Full-time and part-time employees
- Affiliate and volunteer clinical faculty
- Employees of all of our entities, including UW Medical Center (Montlake), Harborview, Northwest, Airlift, UW Primary Care, and the School of Medicine.
- Interns, residents, fellows, and post-docs
- What about Fred Hutch? If you are a primary employee of Fred Hutch, you are required to take their Bias Mitigation Education training. If you are at Fred Hutch but primarily employed at UW medicine, you are required to take our training.
This does NOT include students, including undergraduate students, medical students, and graduate students (master’s degrees and PhDs, even if you have a paid position as a research or teaching assistant).
If I am not sure if I need to take a course, who do I ask?
Please email hcesched@uw.edu and we will help you.
Why are students not included in SB5227?
The Washington State Legislature also passed SB5228, which provides different requirements for EDI training for students. These requirements are being met with different processes and students will learn about these requirements separately and according to a different timeline.
How do I meet the requirements of SB5227?
If you are in the scope of this requirement as per above, you have two options to meet this requirement (either one of these will meet the requirement):
1. Complete the e-learning course, “Advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Training”
2. Complete the Office of Healthcare Equity’s Foundational EDI Training Series
What is the e-learning course, “Advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Training”?
This course was developed before the Senate Bill was passed. It traditionally has been required as part of UW Medicine’s new staff training and as an annual refresher training for all staff. It is an asynchronous, e-learning course that takes approximately one hour to complete.
Because UW Medicine provides this course as an annual refresher, while SB5227 mandate requires completing a course every two years, simply taking the annual refresher complies with the SB5227 requirement.
What is the OHCE’s Foundational EDI Training Series?
This training series was developed in 2020 in response to UW Medicine Leadership pledging to become an antiracist organization and requiring all faculty and staff to take EDI training as part of that commitment. It consists of five separate 90-minute courses, each provided by a live expert trainer over zoom (or in-person upon request). The content areas of the Foundational Training series include:
1. Identity, Intersectionality, and Privilege
2. Social Determinants of Health
3. Gender and Sexual Diversity
4. History of Race and Racism in Science and Medicine
5. Interrupting Bias and Microaggressions
How can I sign up for the Foundational Training Series?
Your department may have a plan for providing this training to your team, and this plan may include additional trainings developed by OHCE. Please check with your department leader about the department’s plan.
You may also sign up for these trainings as an individual, independent of your department. The training page of the OHCE website includes more detailed information about the series, upcoming trainings, and how to register.
How can I (or a leader or administrator checking on their team’s behalf) find out if I have already completed the training or the course?
Please contact hcesched@uw.edu
If I complete OHCE’s Foundational EDI Training Series, do I still have to take the e-learning course, “Advancing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Training”?
Because the Foundational Training Series covers similar content but is much longer and more detailed than is the Advancing EDI training, taking the Foundational Series is sufficient. However, SB5227 requires completing a course every two years. You can meet this repeated requirement either by re-enrolling in the Foundational Series or completing the annual Advancing EDI training refresher when it is assigned to you.
If I complete the e-learning Advancing EDI Training, do I still need to complete OHCE’s Foundational EDI Training Series?
Because the Advancing EDI training is much smaller than the Foundational Training Series, and because you must complete the Advancing EDI Training every year, it is not a replacement for the Foundational Training Series, which you are only expected to take once. Please check with your department leader about taking the Foundational Training Series.
