Teaching Strategies to Increase Nursing Student Acceptance and Management of Unconscious Bias

Medical providers' unconscious biases may contribute to health disparities. Awareness and self-reflection strategies commonly used to teach cultural competence in academic settings are generally ineffective in reducing unconscious bias or motivating change.

This article describes the innovative teaching strategies implemented in a graduate setting (N = 75) to increase nursing learners' acceptance and management of unconscious bias. Strategies used guided the debriefing and feedback that incorporated implicit association testing, interactive audience polling, categorized management strategies, and perspective taking.

Strategies resulted in positive learner feedback, including a high likelihood to learn more about unconscious bias, acceptance of unconscious bias influence on health disparities, and importance of using management strategies to address personal bias.

Increasingly diverse patient populations require nurses who have the skills to understand, assess, and correct unconscious biases. To accomplish this goal, consistent exposure to unconscious bias curricula that includes focused debriefing, feedback, and management strategies is needed at all levels of nursing education. [J Nurs Educ. 2017;56(11):692-696.].