Implicit Bias in Healthcare

From the CDC: The U.S Public Health Service (USPHS) Syphilis Study at Tuskegee  was a clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972. The study was intended to observe the natural history of untreated syphilis. As part of the study, researchers did not collect informed consent from participants and they did not offer treatment, even after it was widely available. The study ended in 1972[…]

Sponsors looking to increase diversity in clinical trials should, among other things, “meet patients where they are,” hire a more diverse pool of trial investigators, train nonminority investigators and deploy a patient-centric model for trials that includes input from Community Advisory Boards (CABs). Read More

Disparities in health care are of great concern, with much attention focused on the potential for unconscious (implicit) bias to play a role in this problem. Some initial studies have been conducted, but the empirical research has lagged. This article provides a research roadmap that spans investigations of the presence of implicit bias in health[…]

Implicit attitudes are thoughts and feelings that often exist outside of conscious awareness, and thus are difficult to consciously acknowledge and control. Negative implicit attitudes about people of color may contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in health and healthcare. We systematically reviewed evidence on implicit racial/ethnic bias among health care professionals and on the relationships between[…]

In today’s America, minority patients still have markedly worse health outcomes than white patients. The differences are greatest for black Americans: Compared to white patients, they are two to three times as likely to die of preventable heart disease and stroke. They also have higher rates of cancer, asthma, influenza,pneumonia, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and homicide. For[…]

Health care professionals learn that some diseases may be associated with various population groups. Doctors and nurses, for example, need to know if some categories of people are more likely than others to manifest specific symptoms and diseases. Ashkenazi Jews have a higher prevalence of Tay-Sachs disease than other groups. Hypertension is more prevalent among[…]

In spite of significant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of most chronic diseases, there is evidence that racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive lower quality of care than nonminorities and that, patients of minority ethnicity experience greater morbidity and mortality from various chronic diseases than nonminorities. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report on[…]

Delaying medical care can cause catastrophic health and financial problems. That’s why early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services temporarily expanded its telehealth coverage so physicians, nurse practitioners, clinical psychologists and licensed clinical social workers would be reimbursed for telehealth services. Other payers followed suit. Unfortunately, not everyone can just hop[…]

Compared with whites, members of racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to receive preventive health services and often receive lower-quality care. They also have worse health outcomes for certain conditions. To combat these disparities, advocates say health care professionals must explicitly acknowledge that race and racism factor into health care. This issue of Transforming Care offers examples[…]

Researchers are finding that population density is not associated with higher death rates from COVID-19. Unfortunately, some people still blame compact housing and transit for pandemic spikes, and use that misinformation to promote sprawling residential development and disinvestment in transit in the name of health. These are the same poor practices that have segregated neighborhoods[…]