Implicit Bias Training in a Residency Program: Aiming for Enduring Effects.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Equity
• Implicit Bias Research

Background:

• Implicit bias significantly impacts patient care and can perpetuate health inequities.
• Existing interventions often focus on individual awareness, necessitating systemic approaches.
• Family medicine residency programs require strategies to address implicit bias and structural racism.

Purpose of the Study:

• To offer and evaluate parallel implicit bias trainings for residents and faculty.
• To address both personal biases and institutional inequities contributing to structural racism.
• To enhance institutional capacity for crucial conversations on implicit bias.

Main Methods:

• A national expert delivered parallel training sessions to residents and faculty.
• Focus groups with residents (n=18) and faculty/leadership (n=13) were conducted six months post-training.
• Qualitative data analysis identified emergent themes from participant feedback.

Main Results:

• Increased awareness and commitment to addressing racial bias were reported.
• Participants valued a safe forum for discussing concerns about bias.
• New strategies for managing bias and enhanced institutional capacity for continued training were identified.

Conclusions:

• The training was perceived as important and empowering by both residents and faculty.
• Participants expressed a strong desire for continued programmatic commitment to addressing implicit bias.
• The intervention demonstrated potential for systemic change in addressing bias within residency programs.