The Impact of Unconscious Bias in Healthcare: How to Recognize and Mitigate It

 This research paper, “Impact of Unconscious Bias in Healthcare: How to Recognize and Mitigate It,” published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, introduces the critical issue of unconscious bias among healthcare professionals and its detrimental effects on patient care and health equity.

The introduction highlights the growing diversity of the patient population in the United States, which is not mirrored in the demographic makeup of healthcare professionals. This disparity can lead to unintentional biases, rooted in cultural stereotypes, that negatively impact patients from underrepresented groups. The paper states that these biases can manifest in various aspects of healthcare, including:

• Patient-clinician interactions

• Hiring and promotion of healthcare professionals

• Interprofessional relationships

The authors emphasize that unconscious bias perpetuates health inequities and can have a significant impact on patient outcomes. The introduction sets the stage for the rest of the paper, which explores strategies to recognize and mitigate these biases to foster a more equitable healthcare environment, with a specific focus on the field of infectious diseases.

Abstract

The increasing diversity in the US population is reflected in the patients who healthcare professionals treat. Unfortunately, this diversity is not always represented by the demographic characteristics of healthcare professionals themselves. Patients from underrepresented groups in the United States can experience the effects of unintentional cognitive (unconscious) biases that derive from cultural stereotypes in ways that perpetuate health inequities.

Unconscious bias can also affect healthcare professionals in many ways, including patient-clinician interactions, hiring and promotion, and their own interprofessional interactions. The strategies described in this article can help us recognize and mitigate unconscious bias and can help create an equitable environment in healthcare, including the field of infectious diseases.

Attribution: Marcelin et al The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 220, Issue Supplement_2, 15 September 2019, Pages S62–S73, 

View Research Paper