Concept Map

Running head: NURSES BIASES 1

NURSES BIASES 2

Nurses’ Biases

Raven Jinks

Chamberlain University

Nurses’ Biases

Have you ever been mistreated by a nurse because of your race, gender, or beliefs? Unfortunately, healthcare providers just like other professionals, sometimes prejudge patients based on characteristics such as race, class, and gender. However, this should not be the case, as every patient deserves unbiased service at healthcare facilities. Therefore, personal biases among nurses should be discouraged as it affects the delivery of health services.

How Biases Can Impact Outcomes

Caregivers’ prejudices have negative outcomes and put a severe strain on their relationship with patients. For example, patients can feel stigmatized and may refuse treatment due to real or perceived mistreatment by caregivers in the past. Notably, sometimes nurses make inferences about patients’ conditions based on their race or ethnicity, especially when there is a language barrier (Dayer-Berenson, 2014). However, most of these inferences are made without complete and accurate information, which could lead to disparities in providing care. Poor judgments can result in the provision of more resources to one particular race. Consequently, some people will receive inadequate care and this may weaken their trust in the healthcare system. Nurses should adhere to the highest ethical standards and ensure fairness to all.

Personal Biases

Most individuals find themselves prejudging others based on their accent, clothing style or even physical appearance. It is natural for people to have preconceived notions about others with a different accent or from another race (Brownstein & Saul, 2016). Similarly, nurses have implicit biases concerning the members of social groups and this affects how they handle patients. For example, most people tend to think that most blacks are violent which may affect how nurses treat them at the hospital. Also, when a patient is overweight, nurse may be more prone to attribute health concerns to weight instead of the underlying, discrete medical issues (Heath, 2017). I have been forced sometimes to make inferences when treating a patient based on their race, especially when there is a language barrier.

Strategy to Reduce Bias

Education can help nurses tackle bias. Healthcare providers should be made aware of the racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare. Having more discussions about the issue in the workplace will also be part of the learning. Quinn-Szcesuil (2018) argues that when nurses address the topic in an open and nonjudgmental way, everyone will benefit and it will pave the way for significant changes. Notably, not all nurses are aware of it that they have implicit bias and sensitizing the professionals to the problem is a first step towards solving it. Educating nurses on existing racial prejudices can help minimize the vice.

Nurses’ prejudice can affect patients’ outcomes negatively. Wrong inferences by nurses can lead to an incorrect diagnosis or less favorable treatment. Additionally, bias leads to disparities in treatment in which one group may receive favorable treatment over others. As a result, the group that feels less cared for may form a negative impression about the health care system, and this may affect the delivery of service. Incidences of prejudice can be reduced if all nurses are educated about the vice. It is the responsibility of both individual nurses and their managers to eradicate prejudices in their organizations.

References

Brownstein, M., & Saul, J. (2016). Implicit bias and philosophy, volume 1: Metaphysics and epistemology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Dayer-Berenson, L. (2014). Cultural Competencies for Nurses. Burlington, VT: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Heath, S. (2017). How healthcare bias affects patient-provider relationships. PatientEngagementHIT, Retrieved from https://patientengagementhit.com/news/how-healthcare-bias-affects-patient-provider-relationships

Quinn-Szcesuil, J. (2018). Recognizing implicit bias in health care settings. Minority Nurse, Retrieved from https://minoritynurse.com/recognizing-implicit-bias-health-care-settings/