There’s a DEI Emergency in the Medical Field

In recent years, states across the country, as well as the federal government, have taken action targeting divisive and discriminatory DEI programs in the medical field.

This has likely prompted some institutions, such as the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), to scrub the more overt references to racially discriminatory practices from their public websites. The American College of Surgeons, perhaps seeing which way the winds were blowing, attempted to rebrand itself and downplay its diversity commitments.

These changes appear to be largely cosmetic rather than a collective “Road to Damascus” moment, but they do signify a growing awareness among medical institutions that their radical ideological activism is no longer palatable to the public, policymakers, and healthcare professionals alike.

However, many medical associations still haven’t gotten the memo.

The National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP) broadcasts its commitment to DEI loud and proud, maintaining a DEI committee and multiple resources expounding on the virtues of DEI ideology.

In its “Essential Principles to Create an Equitable, Inclusive, and Diverse EMS Workforce and Work Environment” document, the NAEMSP lists multiple principles that appear facially discriminatory.

These include:

“Hire more diverse workforce by intentionally recruiting from marginalized communities.”

“Increase EMS career pathway and mentorship programs within underrepresented minorities (URM) communities and URM-predominant schools starting at a young age to promote EMS as an achievable profession.”

“Require EMS advisory boards whose composition reflects the communities they serve and regularly audit membership to ensure inclusion.”

Taken together, these principles represent a fairly overt commitment to engage in discriminatory behavior, using the guise of “diversity” and “equity” to inject dangerous and racist influences and quotas into the recruitment and hiring process.

And from the principles’ citations, it’s clear the NAEMSP includes racial minorities in its definition of “URM.”

Moreover, the principles commit the NAEMSP to engage in forms of social justice activism, including a focus on combating “systemic racism.” Examples include:

“Increase knowledge and self-awareness of implicit/unconscious bias and acts of microaggression through established educational and training programs (i.e., anti- racism, upstander, and allyship) such that individuals recognize and mitigate their own biases and can act as allies.”

“Examine policies that promote systemic racism and revise policies, procedures, and rules to promote a diverse, inclusive, and equitable environment.”

“Design research and quality improvement initiatives related to health disparities in EMS that are focused on racial/ethnic and gender inequities and include URM community leaders as essential stakeholders involved in all stages of research development and implementation.”

The NAEMSP has also evangelized these ideals through a number of town halls and webinars.

One event, titled “Cultivating A Culturally Competent Culture: Building Diverse and Inclusive EMS Agencies,” includes an action plan urging attendees to diversify their workplaces.

As recently as June 2025, the NAEMSP’s DEI committee hosted a happy hour and virtual recruiting event.

The NAEMSP’s open endorsement of hiring and recruitment practices that favor certain groups on the basis of race or identity is promoting discrimination, full stop. 

This undermines the very foundation of medicine, which should prioritize competence, training, and skill above all else. Patients deserve to be treated by the best doctors and EMS professionals, not by those selected to satisfy ideological and identity-based goals.