TY - JOUR
T1 - When best intentions aren't enough
T2 - helping medical students develop strategies for managing bias about patients.
AU - Teal, Cayla R.
AU - Shada, Rachel E.
AU - Gill, Anne C.
AU - Thompson, Britta M.
AU - Frugé, Ernest
AU - Villarreal, Graciela B.
AU - Haidet, Paul
PY - 2010/5
Y1 - 2010/5
N2 - INTRODUCTION/AIMS: Implicit bias can impact physician-patient interactions, alter treatment recommendations, and perpetuate health disparities. Medical educators need methods for raising student awareness about the impact of bias on medical care. SETTING: Seventy-two third-year medical student volunteers participated in facilitated small group discussions about bias. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: We tested an educational intervention to promote group-based reflection among medical students about implicit bias. PROGRAM EVALUATION: We assessed how the reflective discussion influenced students' identification of strategies for identifying and managing their potential biases regarding patients. 67% of the students (n = 48) identified alternate strategies at post-session. A chi-square analysis demonstrated that the distribution of these strategies changed significantly from pre-session to post-session (chi(2)(11) = 27.93, p < 0.01), including reductions in the use of internal feedback and humanism and corresponding increases in the use of reflection, debriefing and other strategies. DISCUSSION: Group-based reflection sessions, with a provocative trigger to foster engagement, may be effective educational tools for fostering shifts in student reflection about bias in encounters and willingness to discuss potential biases with colleagues, with implications for reducing health disparities.
AB - INTRODUCTION/AIMS: Implicit bias can impact physician-patient interactions, alter treatment recommendations, and perpetuate health disparities. Medical educators need methods for raising student awareness about the impact of bias on medical care. SETTING: Seventy-two third-year medical student volunteers participated in facilitated small group discussions about bias. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: We tested an educational intervention to promote group-based reflection among medical students about implicit bias. PROGRAM EVALUATION: We assessed how the reflective discussion influenced students' identification of strategies for identifying and managing their potential biases regarding patients. 67% of the students (n = 48) identified alternate strategies at post-session. A chi-square analysis demonstrated that the distribution of these strategies changed significantly from pre-session to post-session (chi(2)(11) = 27.93, p < 0.01), including reductions in the use of internal feedback and humanism and corresponding increases in the use of reflection, debriefing and other strategies. DISCUSSION: Group-based reflection sessions, with a provocative trigger to foster engagement, may be effective educational tools for fostering shifts in student reflection about bias in encounters and willingness to discuss potential biases with colleagues, with implications for reducing health disparities.
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U2 - 10.1007/s11606-009-1243-y
DO - 10.1007/s11606-009-1243-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 20352504
AN - SCOPUS:77953650978
VL - 25 Suppl 2
SP - S115-118
JO - Journal of General Internal Medicine
JF - Journal of General Internal Medicine
SN - 0884-8734
ER -