How Health Professionals Address Biases to Deliver Competent Care

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Answer 1:

As a nurse, whether experienced or not, being biased towards the patient is sometimes unavoidable. Strategies to address biases include self-awareness, acknowledgment, empathy, advocacy, and education. One should recognize the bias and reassess oneself on what approach to use (Teal, Gill, Green, & Crandall, 2012). Implicit bias can significantly affect the equity and quality of care. One of addressing it is to be aware of one's assumptions. There are traits, behaviors, or beliefs of the patient that one may disagree with due to assumptions. These assumptions can trigger a nurse resulting in implicit bias. By being aware of such actions, a nurse can reassess herself and acknowledge the problem's existence. A nurse should then empathize with the situation that their patient is in to understand their feelings better. With the presence of biases, nurses' advocacy depicts their support to patients in receiving patient-centered care (Dovidio & Fiske, 2012).

References:

Dovidio, J. F., & Fiske, S. T. (2012). Under the radar: how unexamined biases in decision-making processes in clinical interactions can contribute to health care disparities. American journal of public health, 102(5), 945-952.

Teal, C. R., Gill, A. C., Green, A. R., & Crandall, S. (2012). Helping medical learners recognize and manage unconscious bias toward certain patient groups. Medical education, 46(1), 80-88.

Answer 2:

When a heal...