As with any interaction, implicit bias can have adverse effects on the patient experience.
By damaging patient-provider interactions, implicit bias can adversely impact health outcomes
. In many situations, patients are able to pick up on a provider’s implicit bias, and patients often report a poor experience for that.
What is an example of bias in healthcare?
Some examples of how implicit bias plays out in health care include:
Non-white patients receive fewer cardiovascular interventions and fewer renal transplants
. Black women are more likely to die after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Is there bias in health care?
Most health care providers appear to have implicit bias
in terms of positive attitudes toward Whites and negative attitudes toward people of color. Future studies need to employ more rigorous methods to examine the relationships between implicit bias and health care outcomes.
What does bias mean in healthcare?
Bias is defined as
the negative evaluation of one group and its members relative to another
.
1
. Explicit bias requires that a person is aware of his/her evaluation of a group and believes that evaluation is accurate.
What is implicit bias How does it affect healthcare?
In healthcare, implicit bias
can shape the way medical providers interact with patients
. Because everyone is susceptible to implicit bias, even clinicians, these unconscious preconceptions will naturally seep into patient-provider communication.
How do stereotypes affect healthcare?
An American national study has found people who encountered the threat of being judged by negative stereotypes related to weight, age, race, gender, or social class in health care settings were
more likely to have hypertension, be depressed, and to rate their own health more poorly
.
What is bias in nursing?
RECOGNIZING IMPLICIT BIASES
Nurses can ask themselves if they
anticipate unpleasant experiences when caring for any particular group of patients, or if any particular group of patients makes them feel uncomfortable, anxious, or fearful
. Such feelings may indicate implicit bias and prompt self-reflection.
How does unconscious bias affect healthcare professionals?
Bias may unconsciously influence the way information about an individual is processed, leading to
unintended disparities that have real consequences in medical school admissions, patient care, faculty hiring, promotion, and opportunities for growth
(Figure 1).
How does bias affect the workplace?
In some more severe cases, strong preferential bias of any kind can lead to
workplace bullying, unlawful harassment or discrimination putting businesses at high risk of reputational damage and any associated financial costs as issues develop
.
How does the community health nurse recognize bias stereotypes?
Nurses should also understand the assumptions that trigger in them-
A patient’s race, accent, clothing style, or appearance
can spark an instant judgment in nurses, therefore, understanding this aspect will help recognize the bias.
Discrimination which is against the Equality Act is unlawful. This means you can take action in the civil courts. Direct discrimination is
when a healthcare or care provider treats you differently and worse than someone else for certain reasons
.
How does stereotyping affect nursing care?
Negative stereotypes, like the stereotype that obese people lack will power, can
lead health professionals to communicate less effectively with a patient, giving the patient less time and opportunity to explain their symptoms and generally making the patient less comfortable explaining their condition
.
How can patient care avoid bias?
- Consider other perspectives. How do things look or feel from another point of view? …
- Slow down. To recognize biases, don’t rush through an interaction and respond instinctively. …
- Get to know the individual. Gather specific information about the other person to prevent stereotyping.
How does implicit bias affect nursing?
Nurses with implicit biases
may demonstrate less compassion for certain patients and invest less time and effort in the therapeutic relationship with them, adversely affecting assessment and care
.
How does bias affect public health research and policy?
Bias related to methodological flaws or conflicts of interest (COI)
can produce poor-quality, inaccurate studies
. Policy and practice guidelines that are based on poor-quality research can have negative effects on individuals and populations.
