Here are five takeaways:
1. The disparities in treatment and outcomes between white patients and black and Latino patients are the same as they were more than 50 years ago. Current research suggests a physician’s unconscious behavior may account for these disparities.
2. Most healthcare professionals do not intend to treat people differently, but are not aware of the racial bias they have toward certain racial groups. Various studies indicate black patients are prescribed less medication than white patients with the same complaints, as reported in a NCBI study, according to CNN.
3. Medical schools around the nation are training students to become more reflective in their decisions so they may be aware of certain prejudices. Institutions including the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, University of Massachusetts and University of California in San Francisco have formal lessons on unconscious bias as a part of the curriculum.
4. Rene Salazar, MD, led a workshop for medical students at UCSF to recognize racial biases. Students took an implicit association test and many found they had a preference for white patients. Research indicates 75 percent of individuals who take the race test showed a preference for whites.
5. No formal studies have been conducted yet to measure if patient care has changed because of the training courses.
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