This month we celebrate diversity and think about how that applies to our local community and health care.
Image by Joshua Choate from Pixabay
Implicit biases are unconscious stereotypes and opinions we have about certain groups of people based on characteristics such as race, age, gender, sexuality, etc. These stereotypes and opinions may be favorable or unfavorable, and they impact our thoughts about and actions toward a person. In health care, these implicit biases can negatively impact the level of care provided to patients. According to the Ohio State University's Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity (2015), implicit biases are pervasive, and they may not align with beliefs or stances we explicitly endorse.
According to Fitzgerald and Hurst (2017), it's possible to admonish a particular bias against a vulnerable population (i.e. racial bias) while still having implicit bias against a vulnerable population because your culture may depict these vulnerable populations in pejorative ways that subtly impact your unconscious associations. Implicit biases impact quality of care and, in the U.S., one of the causes of racial health disparities is implicit bias (paras. 4-5, 7).
Implicit bias can be overcome by being aware these biases exist. Training offered by employers helps, as does working in a diverse environment so you can form personal relationships with people who are different than you. Tropp and Godsil (2015) describe practices that can help you overcome implicit bias, including not attempting to be colorblind but rather to "individuate" and understand differences between groups, counter negative stereotypes with positive interactions, and assume another group's perspective on issues. Harvard University's Project Implicit also offers various tests you can take to check your implicit bias against various groups of people.
In our library databases, you can find various articles that talk about diversity in health care. Some words you might want to try searching are:
There are various places to find information about your community, see below.
