UW Medicine The Huddle highlights op-ed by Dr. Janice Sabin on tackling implicit bias

UW Medicine’s The Huddle highlighted an op-ed in the New England Journal of Medicine on tackling implicit bias in health care by Dr. Janice Sabin, UW CHWS investigator and Research Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education. The op-ed describes how both implicit and explicit biases contribute to disparities in health and health care, and how a variety of approaches and strategies to educate healthcare providers about implicit bias can have mitigating effects. While acknowledging that implicit bias is hidden and difficult to recognize, especially in oneself, Dr. Sabin suggests ways to increase awareness of one’s personal biases, and ways to address the impact of implicit bias on healthcare both at the individual level (i.e. using non-biased language in chart notes) and organizational levels (i.e. bias reporting systems). The article gives recommendations for healthcare systems and clinicians to begin or continue the process of reducing or eliminating the harms caused by implicit bias in health care. Dr. Sabin also has been leading several studies for UW CHWS investigating the effect of implicit bias training on bias awarenessthe lasting effect of implicit bias training, and the effect of implicit bias training among physician assistant preceptors and trainees.