Week 3 Implicit Bias: Notes

 

Implicit bias

 

·     Black and Hispanic patients are significantly less likely than whites to receive pain medications, even for acute injuries like bone fractures. When they do receive analgesics, they are at lower dosages than white patients despite having higher pain scores.^8,9

·     Physicians are less likely to treat suicidal ideation in elderly patients despite the fact that those 85 and older have the second highest rate of suicide of any age group.^10,11

·     Women are three-times less likely to be referred for total knee replacement than men even when clinically indicated, and are less likely to be diagnosed with COPD than men despite having similar histories and medical examinations.³

In 2018, for instance, just 4 percent of the 2,917 cardiology residents in the U.S. were black and just 4.8 percent were Hispanic. And while half of all medical students are women, just 22 percent continue on to a cardiology fellowship.12 Which explains why cardiology ranks 36 of 44 specialties for the percentage of women.¹³

 

A post-retreat survey found that 67 percent of participants thought the IAT might be helpful in reducing bias, 48 percent were now conscious of their individual results when interviewing candidates, and 21 percent said their own results had an impact on their admissions decisions in the next cycle.

pers led his own study into the effects of implicit bias on medical school admissions, administering the Harvard Implicit Association Test (IAT), the gold standard when it comes to measuring implicit bias, to the 140 members of the admissions committee.

 

The results showed significant levels of white preference, with the magnitude of bias twice as high in men than women, and also higher in faculty members vs. medical students (the researchers didn't break out the results by race because they didn't want any identifiable information).¹⁸

When they announced the results during the committee's annual all-day retreat, there was silence, he recalled. Then the reactions began, with many questioning the findings. But Capers was prepared. He'd brought in one of the foremost experts on implicit bias to explain the results, what they meant, and discuss opportunities to mitigate bias. – this is a good strategy to make a system for

For instance, a study of gender bias at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that when at least a quarter of the faculty in a department attended a 2.5-hour interactive workshop on the topic, there were significant increases in self-reported actions to promote gender equity at three months.¹⁹

^{this is implicint bias, need to write} more about it because it can also be in the medical field,

remember to question doctors because they do still have implicit bias

possible solutions are to keep others around that have different standings

trials do work

 

 Cover Story | Implicit Bias: Recognizing the Unconscious Barriers to Quality Care and Diversity in Medicine

Jan 24, 2020

Cardiology Magazine