NR5OO Week 3 Assignment: Addressing Bias

NR5OO Week 3 Assignment: Addressing Bias

Addressing Biases

When working in the world as a healthcare worker we come across many people of different

shapes, size, color and gender. Being bias is something that is human nature however we either process

this below the level of our conscious or on the surface. Many things we are not biased to, tend to leave

us with a warm and happy feeling, while being biased towards something makes us feel negative

towards the subject. Addressing implicit bias is never easy. Among dedicated health care professionals, it

can be especially difficult to contemplate the possibility of harboring unconscious attitudes or

stereotypes (FitzGerald & Hurst, 2017). Biases can affect the way we communicate with our patients,

provide treatment and other recommendations for their plan of care. Implicit bias can affect both

perception and clinical decision making (Institute of Health Improvement, 2019). Our values and beliefs

influence our everyday lives in ways we don’t even realize; they influence our thoughts, our decisions

and therefore our actions (CCN,week 3 lesson).

Discussion of Bias

I am in the Masters of Nursing degree with my specialty in Family Nurse Practitioner. What I plan to do

with that is work with families in a family doctors office. I adore families, especially ones that are joyful in

bringing in a new bundle of joy into the family. I mostly would like to work in obstetrics or pediatrics,

something in that nature. Health care practitioners and other health professionals enter their chosen

professions for altruistic reasons-to help individuals and communities maintain optimum health and

well-being (Rossen , 2014). I think most practitioner bias is at an unconscious level and is influenced by

multiple factors, including exposure over time to negative images and messages about certain groups of

people. Negative experiences within the health care setting will create additional vulnerabilities in an

already vulnerable population, and acts as one mechanism for creating and sustaining health disparities

in African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians (NCCC, 2014)