47821 Implicit Bias: How Does it Affect Healthcare?

Course overview

Discussion of how implicit bias affects healthcare, including what implicit bias is, how it develops, the negative effect it has on patients, how to recognize it, and strategies to manage it. Implicit, or subconscious, bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These biases, which can be both favorable and unfavorable, are activated involuntarily and without an individuals awareness or intentional control. Implicit bias may have negative consequences in healthcare settings, including swaying treatment decisions and clinical decision making, leading to failures in patient-centered care. Healthcare professionals must be willing to examine their own possible biases in order to understand the basis for stereotypes and prejudice in our society to improve healthcare provision for all individuals. This program reviews what implicit bias is and how it develops, the negative effect of implicit bias on patients, how to recognize implicit bias, and strategies to manage implicit bias.