4312 - THE ROLE OF PROVIDER RESISTANCE TO IMPLICIT BIAS EDUCATION ON HISPANIC PATIENT SATISFACTION IN THE CLINIC

Session: 4308 - UNDERSTANDING AND ADDRESSING THE ROLE OF PROVIDER BIAS IN GLOBAL HEALTHCARE DISPARITIES
AUTHORS:
Stone Jeff (Professor of Psychological Sciences Center for Community Health and Engaged Research (CHER) Northern Arizona University ~ Flagstaff, Arizona, ~ United States of America)
Abstract text:
Decades of research show that the implicit biases held by health care providers predict negative interactions, clinical judgments, and disparate health outcomes for marginalized patients. To mitigate these outcomes, many health care training programs offer education in implicit bias for student clinicians. Stone and colleagues (2020), for example, developed workshops to (a) raise provider awareness about implicit bias and (b) practice new communication skills to control the expression of bias during interaction with patients. A test of the workshops showed that among two cohorts of first year medical students (N = 137), majority group students showed a significant short-term reduction in implicit stereotyping of Hispanics as medically non-compliant. The present study was designed to examine if this curriculum translates into positive interactions and outcomes for Hispanic patients in the clinic. Family and Internal Medicine residents (N = 61) were randomly assigned to complete either the full workshops (online awareness and in-person skills training) or just the online awareness session. During the next 3 months, the residents met with approximately 5 (N = 366) Hispanic patients in the clinic. The results of post-meeting surveys showed that the effectiveness of the full workshops depended on how resistant residents were to learning about implicit bias. Specifically, after they completed the full workshops, those low in resistance reported using the workshop skills, higher satisfaction with Hispanic patients, and their Hispanic patients reported higher satisfaction with their care. In contrast, after completing the full workshops, those high in resistance reported that they did not use the workshop skills, had lower satisfaction with Hispanic patients, and their Hispanic patients reported lower satisfaction with their care. The results suggest that to improve marginalized patient outcomes, health care educators must breakdown the resistance among some providers that may attenuate the effectiveness of implicit bias education.