Slide 1: What is explicits vs implicit bias?
Slide 2: Implicit bias. Attitudes and beliefs held on an unconscious level that we are unaware of. Explicit bias. Attitudes and beliefs held on a conscious level that we deliberately consider and report.
Slide 3: Physicians with negative implicit biases about black individuals were less likely to offer lifesaving thrombotic drugs to black patients with heart attacks.
The study showed the implicit but not explicit bias predicts the differences in physicians’ thrombolysis decisions – the higher the physicians’s pro-white implicit bias, the higher their likelihood of treating white patients and not treating black patients with thrombolysis.
Graphic showing increased implicit bias leads to decreased likelihood of treating black patients.
Slide 4: Oncologists with implicit bias spend less time with their black patients compared to their white patients.
One study showed a significant negative association between oncologists’ implicit bias and interaction length. Patients also perceived their communication to be less patient centered with greater difficulty remembering conversation content.
Graphic showing increased implicit bias leads to decreased supportive communication and interaction length and decreased patient centeredness and content retention.
Slide 5: Do you have implicit biases that impact your patients’ care? What are strategies to consider to ensure your future patients receive optimal and equal care in spite of these biases?
Link to survey for implicit bias.
References
- Green AR, Carney DR, Pallin DJ, et al. Implicit bias among physicians and its prediction of thrombolysis decisions for black and white patients. J Gen Intern Med. 2007;22(9):1231-1238. PMID 17594129.
- Penner LA, Dovidio JF, Gonzalez R, Albrecht TL, Chapman R, Foster T, Harper FW, Hagiwara N, Hamel LM, Shields AF, Gadgeel S, Simon MS, Griggs JJ, Eggly S. The Effects of Oncologist Implicit Racial Bias in Racially Discordant Oncology Interactions. J Clin Oncol. 2016 Aug 20;34(24):2874-80. PMID 27325865.
Tags: 5 Pearls, Addiction Medicine, Clinical Practice, explicit bias, implicit bias, patient centeredness, patient physician interactions, patient treatment