Care Transformation

UW Medicine Bias Reporting Tool

Introduction

UW Medicine is an organization that embraces diversity and advances equity while fostering inclusion and collegiality. We are a community where support and respect are expected at all levels. We also realize there are times when individuals at all levels in our system engage in bullying, demonstrate negative biases, and challenge these values which adversely impacts the learning, teaching, working or healing experiences of others. This tool has been created to formally report those incidents. You may report a variety of concerns ranging from one-time micro-aggressions to more severe and sustained behavior. We are committed to responding to these events and continuing to improve our climate.

You can report anonymously with this tool. We believe we can more fully respond to concerns if you include your name and contact information. It also allows us to follow up with you about next steps.

Click here to access the bias reporting tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is a “bias incident”?

    A “bias incident” is intended to capture any form of discrimination, bullying, microaggression, or harassment against a member of the university community based on perception of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, citizenship, sex, pregnancy, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, disability or veteran status. Our goal is to be broad in our definition of reportable events as we want to hear about what is happening in our community that is impacting our goal of building a more inclusive environment.

  1. Why should I use this tool?

    One of the challenges in large organizations is that so many instances of unprofessional or harmful behaviors are not reported. Having a centralized way to report problems and identify areas and topics where attention is needed allows for targeted interventions.

    While you may choose to submit an anonymous report we would encourage you to provide some contact information as we hope to obtain as complete a picture as possible regarding the experiences of our learners, staff and faculty, and this tool is one mechanism for accomplishing that goal. While we cannot reach out to obtain more information or respond to anonymous reporters to provide feedback or offer additional resources, we welcome the contribution to our collective knowledge and a better understanding of the current climate.

  1. What happens after I submit a report?

    A member of the committee will review the report and reach out to you to learn more about the event (if you have provided contact information). We will then work with you to determine next steps. The information will be maintained in our database, providing us with an overall picture of the kinds of things our students, trainees, staff and faculty are experiencing. The committee will determine what kind of follow up activity may be called for, such as asking facilities services to remove graffiti, reaching out to an affected community to provide support or providing feedback to a department or individual.

  1. Will my report result in an investigation of the matter?

    It is important to note that the Bias Incident Response Team is neither a formal investigative nor an oversight body. In many cases, it will be entirely up to the person making the report to decide if they want to have a formal investigation initiated. If you submit a report and provide contact information, the committee can let you know your options for having the matter investigated and can provide information about relevant resources. In rare instances, we may be compelled by law to report a matter to appropriate investigative body (e.g., Safe Campus, UW Medicine Compliance).

If you have previously reported a bias incident using the UW Medicine Bias Reporting Tool and would like to provide feedback on the process, please complete our brief survey. We welcome your feedback as we continue to improve this tool.

If you have non-urgent questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to any member of the team below or email biasresponseteam@uw.edu (please note, this is not a regularly monitored email for correspondence and should not be used in an emergent or urgent manner).

Bias Response Team Members

Chantal Cayo Chief Nursing Officer, UW Neighborhood Clinics
Nancy Colobong Smith Clinical Nurse Specialist, UWMC
Giana Davidson Assistant Dean for Professionalism, UW School of Medicine
Jerome Dayao Chief Nursing Officer, Harborview Medical Center
Sharona Gordon Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education
Cindy Hamra Assistant Dean for Graduate Medical Education
Paula Houston Chief Equity Officer, Office of Healthcare Equity, UW Medicine
Trish Kritek Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, UW School of Medicine
Raye Maestas Assistant Dean for Student Affairs
Jennifer Petritz Employee Relations Director, UW Medicine
Martine Pierre-Louis Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Harborview Medical Center
Barb Van Ess Director of Personnel Policy, UW School of Medicine Chief Business Office
Maria Zontine Director of Human Resources, UW School of Medicine Chief Business Office

Other links

If you are looking to report a bias incident at UW outside of UW Medicine, please visit the UW bias reporting tool page.

Below are links to resources we may refer you to or you may wish to visit for additional support:

CareLink
Peer to Peer Program
Office of the Ombud
Public Safety
Title IX
University Complaint Investigation and Resolution Office (UCIRO)
Risk Management
Safe Campus
Washington Physicians Health Program
Patient Relations