Implicit bias training in healthcare needs improvement

By Nao Hagiwara, University of Virginia and Tiffany Green, University of Wisconsin-Madison Prejudice and stereotyping can negatively affect patient-provider communication. FG Trade/E+ via Getty Images There is increasing evidence that implicit bias – non-conscious attitudes toward specific groups – is a source of racial inequities in certain aspects of health care, and lawmakers are taking note. Since the tragic murder of George Floyd in May 2020, wherein a Black man was killed by police, several U.S. federal and state legislators have introduced proposals declaring racism as a public health crisis. In March 2024, four U.S. senators led a resolution calling out the “implicit racial and ethnic biases within the health care system, which have an explicit impact on the quality of care experienced by members of racial and ethnic minority groups.” Following this reasoning, states like California and Massachusetts have enacted legislation mandating implicit bias training for health care providers. Health institutions have also focused on addressing implicit bias among the next generation of providers. For example, the American Medical Association’s guidelines to address systemic racism in medicine includes requiring training that covers various forms of racial bias. But is implicit bias training improving care quality for Black patients? We...