When
healthcare providers make negative race-based associations outside conscious
awareness it becomes destructive to not only the patient but the institution of
medicine at-large. Patients are seeking
out care to ease pain, discomfort, and management of their diseased state, yet
treatments remain unfairly distributed based on race. Research shows a direct correlation between
levels of unconscious bias with healthcare providers and the lower quality of
care African Americans and People of Color end up receiving. Substandard treatment based on race, whether it
is intentional or not can increase the risk of poor health outcomes provoked in
an environment designed to reduce those same risk. This lecture will explore
this research and how to best navigate these racial implicit biases for a more
favorable health outcome for patients.
Learning Objectives:
1). Participants will be introduced to social and
historical influences of racial bias
2). Participants will understand how racial bias
influences treatment for pain management
3). Participants will be introduced to
correlations between racial bias in pain perception and how it contributes to
poor patient outcomes
4). Participants will learn available techniques
to help diffuse implicit bias during the clinical encounter
