Implementation of Cultural Awareness and Cognitive Bias Training Within Graduate Nursing Programs

Cognitive bias negatively affects patient outcomes, resulting in medical errors, sentinel events, and legal claims. The brunt of bias-induced inequities and disparities has fallen on Black and Brown people, women, and the LGBTQ+ communities. Faculty training programs have rapidly increased in number, whereas student training has lagged.

A three-part curricular series was developed for students seeking nurse practitioner (NP) training. The series addressed racial bias, microaggression, and gender bias using vignettes and guided pre- and debriefing.

The series was initially implemented to 70 students from four different specialty areas of study. Students resoundingly reported the content as valuable and challenging and the environment as a safe space to learn, be vulnerable, and be empathetic to the experiences of others.

This three-part series has been implemented across eight NP majors and has become a required component of the NP on-campus intensive experience. [.