Post by rkipp on Apr 5, 2016 2:58:46 GMT
As seen in "The neuroscience of race" and the "Race and reputation..." article, people naturally have racial biases that they may not even be aware of, as portrayed through fMRI studies of the brain. This unintentional bias is of a particular concern in regards to medical decisions.
An article published in MedCityNews discussed how 75% of people who took an implicit association test (to test one's unconscious attitudes towards races) demonstrated an automatic preference for whites. Furthermore, the article discussed how disparities in medical treatment between white and black patients are nearly as large as they were 50 years ago. Such disparities include African-American patients being given less pain medication than white patients with the same symptoms.
Medical professionals are deeply concerned by these matters, since they intentionally want to help people and are unaware of their biased behavior. The reason it is so hard for medical professionals to lose their biases is due to the fact that doctors must make quick decisions while multitasking in stressful situations, causing one's bias to prevail in the process. In order to fix this issue, UCSF is having their medical students take workshops that teach students to accept the fact that they will have biases, but learn how to manage them. For instance, one medical student discussed how he would try to clear his mind and approach each patient with a clean slate before treating them, in order to manage his bias.
Dembosky, April. "How Can Healthcare Professionals Better Manage Their Unconscious Racial Bias? - MedCity News." MedCity News. N.p., 21 Aug. 2015. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
Based on the articles assigned for this week and the above article, do you think it is possible to train people, such as doctors who must make quick decisions, to manage their bias, or is our bias uncontrollable? In addition, "The neuroscience of race" article discusses the malleability of race and how context and task demands can change one's response to races, yet the MedCityNews article stated how racial biases in medical treatment has barely changed throughout the past 50 years. Thus, do you think it is possible to treat all races in the medical community equally or is racial bias ingrained in our behavior?
An article published in MedCityNews discussed how 75% of people who took an implicit association test (to test one's unconscious attitudes towards races) demonstrated an automatic preference for whites. Furthermore, the article discussed how disparities in medical treatment between white and black patients are nearly as large as they were 50 years ago. Such disparities include African-American patients being given less pain medication than white patients with the same symptoms.
Medical professionals are deeply concerned by these matters, since they intentionally want to help people and are unaware of their biased behavior. The reason it is so hard for medical professionals to lose their biases is due to the fact that doctors must make quick decisions while multitasking in stressful situations, causing one's bias to prevail in the process. In order to fix this issue, UCSF is having their medical students take workshops that teach students to accept the fact that they will have biases, but learn how to manage them. For instance, one medical student discussed how he would try to clear his mind and approach each patient with a clean slate before treating them, in order to manage his bias.
Dembosky, April. "How Can Healthcare Professionals Better Manage Their Unconscious Racial Bias? - MedCity News." MedCity News. N.p., 21 Aug. 2015. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
Based on the articles assigned for this week and the above article, do you think it is possible to train people, such as doctors who must make quick decisions, to manage their bias, or is our bias uncontrollable? In addition, "The neuroscience of race" article discusses the malleability of race and how context and task demands can change one's response to races, yet the MedCityNews article stated how racial biases in medical treatment has barely changed throughout the past 50 years. Thus, do you think it is possible to treat all races in the medical community equally or is racial bias ingrained in our behavior?