Recognizing Bias for Clinicians

The unconscious mind affects what we think, feel and do — all the time. But it is not easy to see how and when that happens. Are you aware of assumptions you make? Can you anticipate when you are likely to fall into familiar or preferred patterns of thought and action? Unconscious, or implicit bias, is an association that people unknowingly hold and express automatically without conscious awareness. It's how our brain automatically connects certain characteristics or judgements, whether they are true or false, with a particular person or group.  We are all susceptible to these biases. These attitudes, stereotypes and opinions unconsciously affect our understanding, actions and decisions.

Clinicians can often be unaware that unconscious biases may affect the care they provide since this is inconsistent with their conscious attitudes, motivations and intentions of excellent care for all patients. Nevertheless, the evidence is clear that unconscious bias plays a role in impacting care. Research suggests that implicit bias may contribute to health care disparities by shaping clinician behavior and producing differences in medical treatment by race, ethnicity, gender or other characteristics. This can lead to patients' mistrusting the healthcare system based on historical trauma and their own lived experiences.

In this activity clinicians will develop strategies to recognize and prevent implicit bias in order to mitigate its negative impact on healthcare disparities and establish trust with their patients.

Target Audience

All HealthPartners Clinicians

Learning Objectives

 

Following this learning activity (consisting of e-learning followed by facilitated discussion), participants will be able to:

  • Describe how our unconscious thinking system works
  • Explain how unconscious biases can negatively affect those around us  
  • Examine how unconscious bias impacts patient interactions and trust-building and medical decision-making
  • Apply strategies to prevent unconscious bias
Course summary
Available credit: 
  • 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
  • 1.00 Attendance
    This program is designed to meet the Minnesota Board of Nursing’s requirements. It is the responsibility of each nurse to determine if the program meets the criteria for licensure or recertification in their discipline.
Course opens: 
02/10/2024
Course expires: 
02/10/2025

Supplemental Resources


Recognizing Bias for Clinicians Participants Workbook

You will find a complete listing of bibliographic references for further study at the end of the participant workbook.

Disclosure Statement: 
Due to the non-clinical nature of the topic being presented, there is no need to identify, mitigate or disclose relevant financial relationships for this accredited continuing education activity.

There is no commercial support for this activity.

Disclosure link: 
Disclosure and Content Validation

Activity release date: 2/10/2024

Activity termination date: 2/10/2025

 

HealthPartners is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

HealthPartners Office of Continuing Medical Education designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to: 

  • 1 MOC point in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program
  • 1 MOC point in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program
  • Their required annual part II self-assessment credit in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s Continuing Certification program (formerly known as MOC)
  • 1 credit toward the CME component of the American Board of Anesthesiology’s redesigned Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology™ (MOCA®) program, known as MOCA 2.0®. Please consult the ABA website, www.theABA.org, for a list of all MOCA 2.0 requirements 
  • 1 MOC Point toward Lifelong Learning in the American Board of Pathology (ABPath) Continuing Certification program
  • 1 credit toward the CME and Self-Assessment requirements of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program
  • 1 credit toward the CME and Self-Assessment requirements of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery’s Maintenance of Certification program
  • 1 credit toward the CME requirement of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery’s Maintenance of Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM, ABP, ABOHNS, ABA, ABPath, ABS, ABOS and ABTS (MOC) credit and/or recognizing participation.

This program is designed to meet the Minnesota Board of Nursing requirements. It is the responsibility of each participant to determine if the program meets the criteria for licensure or recertification for their discipline.

Available Credit

  • 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
  • 1.00 Attendance
    This program is designed to meet the Minnesota Board of Nursing’s requirements. It is the responsibility of each nurse to determine if the program meets the criteria for licensure or recertification in their discipline.
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Once you are logged in to your account, select Take Course to complete the evaluation, claim credit and receive your certificate of attendance.