Achieving Health Equity: Mitigating Implicit Bias Among Healthcare Professionals

AbstractImplicit bias is a contributing factor to health care disparities. Research shows that health care professionals exhibit the same level of implicit bias as the larger population (Fitzgerald & Hurst, 2017). The presence of implicit bias among health care professionals affects clinical decision-making and health outcomes, but it especially affects patient-clinician interaction (Joint Commission, 2016 and Burgess, Beach & Somnath, 2016). Health care professionals play a vital role in eliminating health care disparities by mitigating implicit bias through increased awareness and evidence-based debiasing strategies. The purpose of this project was to develop a didactic and experiential curriculum for healthcare professionals interested in deepening their understanding of implicit bias in health care and how to mitigate the impact in their clinical practice. A two-part hybrid training program titled Addressing Implicit Bias in Health Care: A Virtual Training program for Healthcare professionals was offered to 23 registered nurses and physical therapists apart of the Continuum Care Team within a healthcare system located in New York City. The transformative learning theory was used as a theoretical framework to educate the intended population for this project. The two main elements of this theory include creating disorienting dilemmas and critical self-reflection. The first part of the training program was a pre-recorded webinar that explored implicit bias in health. Participants were asked to complete a retrospective pre-post assessment after completion of the webinar. Analysis of the data revealed that participants acquired new knowledge across all subscales of the pre-recorded webinar. The second part of the training was a 60-minute virtual live session focused on recognizing implicit bias and introduced evidence-based debiasing strategies. Analysis of the data revealed that participants found the training program relevant, engaging, and could promote behavioral change in clinical practice. Keyword search: Implicit Bias, Training, Healthcare professionals, Debiasing strategies, Self-awareness of bia