Speaker: Reduce unconscious bias with opinions, backgrounds
CHICAGO — Unconscious bias can be reduced by physicians gaining information through people with different opinions and backgrounds in both the workplace and their personal lives, according to a presenter here.
Although many institutions look for individuals who fit into their culture, Rivka C. Ihejirika-Lomedico, MD, said it is better to identify and hire individuals who bring additional knowledge and experience to the practice.
“We don’t need people to fit in. We need them to add to what we have. We need to be able to increase and make our workforce more interesting and more helpful to our patients, not just fit in. We don’t want the status quo,” Ihejirika-Lomedico said in her presentation at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting.
Standardize protocols, blind applications
Confirmation bias, or the tendency for individuals to look for information that supports what they already believe, can be reduced by physicians allowing themselves to be wrong, according to Ihejirika-Lomedico.
“Try to look for things that don’t support your beliefs. Look at things from other people’s perspectives,” she said.
Ihejirika-Lomedico added physicians should have standardized protocols for their patients that offer every treatment and surgery as it applies to them and their needs.
“It shouldn’t be that you use your gestalt as to what the patient needs,” Ihejirika-Lomedico said.
Similarly, Ihejirika-Lomedico said standardizing patient questions and treatment may help reduce perception bias, or the tendency to form simplistic stereotypes and assumptions about people. She noted perception bias can also be reduced during hiring by blinding applications.
Encourage dissenting opinions
Ihejirika-Lomedico added removal of personal identifiers when making decisions, such as an applicant’s name, the name of a school an applicant attended or the name on an applicant’s reference letter, can also help reduce affinity bias.
“You have to intentionally change how we recruit people and change how we look at things and then apply minimum requirements,” Ihejirika-Lomedico said. “If this person has met the minimum threshold, then they can be a qualified applicant – not just looking at what they look like.”
Finally, Ihejirika-Lomedico said to avoid group think by changing the way questions are asked.
“If you ask, ‘Does everyone agree with me?’ it’s going to be hard for people to say, ‘I don’t agree with you,’” Ihejirika-Lomedico said. “Say, ‘I want you to tell me what’s wrong with this.’ You have to actively encourage people to give you dissenting opinions and that will help to change the culture wherever you’re coming from.”
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Ihejirika-Lomedico, RC. Increasing diversity in orthopedics: The problem, strategies and solutions. Presented at: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting. March 22-26, 2022; Chicago.
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