Academic Review 2024

28 ST EDWARD’S, OXFORD 4 .

To what extent is implicit bias the main reason for discrimination of people of colour and women in American, British and Canadian healthcare? By Grace Kulubya Implicit bias is the main reason for the discrimination of people of colour and women in American, British, and Canadian healthcare. Implicit (or unconscious) bias is a concept which was popularized by the American social psychologist Mahzarin Banaji (Agarwal, 2020). Unconscious bias is the social stereotyping of certain groups of people that has been ingrained into our minds by society, our environment, as well as past experiences. The beliefs that we hold on a conscious level about a group of people or a person is known as explicit bias (Perception Institute, 2019). Our biases play a role in our attitudes and behaviour towards certain groups of people. Implicit bias affects the decisions we make and our understanding of different concepts (The Joint Commission, 2016). Healthcare is a service where trained and licensed professionals maintain and restore an individual’s mental and physical well-being (Merriam Webster, 2019). Biases put patient safety at risk and affect the care that patients receive.

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