Self-Implicit Bias and Health Equity in Nursing

Self-Implicit Bias and Health Equity in Nursing

Disclaimer:

These results are not a definitive assessment of your automatic associations. The results may be influenced by variables related to the test (e.g., the category labels or particular items used to represent the categories on the ST-IAT) or the person (e.g., how tired you are). The results are provided for educational purposes only.

How Does The ST-IAT Work?

The ST-IAT measures the strength of associations between concepts (e.g., an individual from the Roskipps group) and attributes (e.g., Plesant, Unpleasant). The main idea is that making a response is easier when closely related items share the same response key. We would say that one has an implicit association of an individual group member and Plesant if they are faster to categorize words when the individual group member and Plesant share a response key relative to when the individual group member and Unpleasant share a response key. Any single ST-IAT is unlikely to predict behavior well for a specific individual. In the aggregate, the IAT can predict behavior such as discrimination in hiring and promotion, medical treatment, and decisions related to criminal justice.

 

What Was This Study About?

In this study, we told you about two fictitious social groups. We tested whether the information that we provided you about the typical behaviors of each group member would influence your implicit associations formed about these group members. There is some evidence that even very little information can influence people’s implicit associations. We are testing whether that is indeed the case.

 

Self-Implicit Bias and Health Equity in Nursing

(STRATEGY CHOSEN FOR #2: Deploy specific strategies to address the multiple determinants of health on which health care organization can have a direct impact)

Part 1. Self-awareness assignment. Follow this link to the Implicit-bias test. (RESULTS ATTACHED)

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/initiatives/task-force-implicit-bias/implicit-bias-test/Links to an external site.

Registration is free. Select the test called Implicit Association Test (IAT) and on the page that opens, click the link PROJECT IMPLICIT SOCIAL ATTITUDES. This is a collaborative research effort between Harvard, Univ of VA, and the Univ of WA. Upon completion of Part 1, write a short (half page) summary of your reaction to the results of the test and how they could impact your practice as an APRN (25 points) then move on to Part 2.

Part 2. After completing the assigned reading for this week (IHI White Paper: Achieving Health Equity) go to pages 32-36. Complete the assessment tool on your work place, or if not currently working, on a past workplace, preferably a healthcare organization of some kind. If you have never worked in a healthcare system, contact your instructor for suggestions. Fill in the columns depending on where your organization is at with interventions to meet that domain (ie Level 2? Level 4?) and also answer the questions that are in the framework tool. Self-Implicit Bias and Health Equity in Nursing Once you complete the assessment, select at least ONE deficient domain/subdomain that you identified from within the assessment tool (see domains below) and describe a strategy you would implement to improve that domain. For example, if you selected the domain “Deploy Specific Strategies to Address the Multiple Determinants of Health on Which Health Care Organizations Can Have a Direct Impact”, you would then select a sub-domain, such as “Healthy Behaviors” and describe strategies you and a team of co-workers could implement to improve progress in that subdomain. (75 points)

Make health equity a strategic priority

Develop structures and processes to support health equity work

Deploy specific strategies to address the multiple determinants of health on which health care organization can have a direct impact

Decrease institutional racism within the organization

Develop partnerships with community organizations to improve health and equity

 

Self-Implicit Bias and Health Equity in Nursing

Achieving Health Equity: A Comprehensive Approach for Health Care Organizations

Healthcare organizations need to tackle health equity because they must provide equal and fair healthcare service access to every individual. The document presents survey results from an implicit bias test and facility assessment data from a military healthcare organization alongside recommendations for developing a particular weak domain.

Part 1: Reflection on Implicit Bias Test Results

Through the Implicit Association Test (IAT), people can discover their unconscious biases because it examines the strength of the relationship between ideas and characteristics. The Implicit Association Test demonstrated implicit social group preferences in this research study. The test results provide important information about unconscious biases that affect professional decisions, even though they do not establish definitive proof. The unexpected outcomes from the test led me to question my own beliefs about social groups. Healthcare professionals need to understand their unconscious biases because these biases create potential negative effects on patient care treatment choices and clinical practice delivery.

Healthcare delivery shows systematic inequalities because implicit biases affect how healthcare professionals treat minority patients. The research demonstrates that healthcare providers who possess implicit biases deliver unequal medical care to minority patients, which leads to inferior health results (Green et al., 2007). APRNs must recognize and address these biases to provide equitable care because they work in their role as Advanced Practice Registered Nurses. Better health outcomes emerge from patient trust, which develops when healthcare providers become more culturally competent because of their awareness. The Implicit Association Test enables healthcare providers to become more self-aware about their biases, which allows them to regularly assess and reduce these biases to create an inclusive healthcare setting.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

Part 2: Health Equity Assessment and Improvement Strategy

The evaluation of a military healthcare facility used the IHI Health Equity Self-Assessment Tool to analyze five critical elements, which included making health equity strategic, developing organizational systems for health equity work, deploying targeted health determinants strategies while reducing institutional racism, and building community partnerships. The assessment underlined the necessity of improvement within specific strategy deployment aimed at handling multiple health determinants.

The facility maintains a Level 2 rating in the “Healthy Behaviors” sub-domain under this domain because it operates with few programs to support healthy conduct among employees and the community. The upcoming strategy will enhance this sub-domain through the development of a culture of health and well-being.

Health promotion programs require the facility to build full-scale wellness initiatives that serve employees and residents. The facility should offer wellness workshops, fitness challenges, and healthy lifestyle seminars as part of its wellness programs. Last year, Baicker et al. (2010) demonstrated through their research that workplace wellness programs delivered solid outcomes in employee health transformation alongside healthcare cost reduction. The facility creates a health-oriented supportive environment through the active promotion of these programs.

The facility should establish partnerships with organizations in the community to implement this strategy. Health organizations within the local area enable organizations to work together on initiatives that enhance health behaviors. Health fairs, nutrition education, and physical activity campaigns, alongside other community partnerships, represent successful efforts that improve the health of residents within the community. The facility benefits from partnerships that build its reputation while developing trust among its surrounding community members.

Additional incentives aimed at employees will help them adopt healthier behaviors. Employees will be more likely to embrace healthier behaviors when the facility provides discounts for gym memberships and healthy eating vouchers along with wellness days. Success studies show that wellness programs with incentives enhance employee participation in health activities and achieve better health results (Horstmann, 2018). The facility can build both a wellness culture and better employee satisfaction and retention rates through health-focused rewards for its staff members.

Health screenings that happen regularly help people discover medical problems before they become severe, which enables them to prevent health challenges from worsening. Through scheduled health screening programs, both employees and community members can find early health risks so that appropriate interventions can be provided. Health screenings that happen before diseases develop have proven effective at improving medical outcomes while minimizing healthcare expenses because they allow doctors to detect illnesses when they are simpler to treat (Brennan et al., 2014). The facility enhances population health through its focus on preventive care because it maintains long-term wellness benefits for everyone Self-Implicit Bias and Health Equity in Nursing.

Mental health is equally important to the development of healthy behaviors. Healthcare facilities should establish mental health support systems, which include stress management workshops, counseling services, and employee assistance programs, to address psychological health needs. Mental health promotion leads to better overall health and increased productivity, according to Goetzel et al. (2019). The facility will establish a complete wellness framework through its mental health service provision.

The path to health equity needs a detailed and diverse strategy for its realization. The implicit bias test outcomes demonstrate the necessity of developing self-awareness to handle biases that affect healthcare delivery. The assessment process of the military healthcare facility reveals particular areas that require improvement regarding healthy behavior promotion.  Self-Implicit Bias and Health Equity in Nursing The facility can move forward with its health equity initiatives through the implementation of health promotion programs, community partnerships, employee wellness rewards, regular health checks, and mental health care support. Such programs enrich both employee health and community welfare as they establish an inclusive healthcare system that promotes equity.

 
 

References

Baicker, K., Cutler, D., & Song, Z. (2010). Workplace wellness programs can generate savings. 
Health Affairs
, 
29
(2), 304–311.

Brennan, T. A., Spettell, C. M., Fernandes, J., Lantiere, M., & Hiatt, S. (2014). Disease management to promote prevention. The American Journal of Managed Care, 20(5), e153-e160.

Goetzel, R. Z., Anderson, D. R., Whitmer, R. W., Ozminkowski, R. J., Dunn, R. L., Wasserman, J., & Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO) Research Committee. (2019). The relationship between modifiable health risks and health care expenditures: an analysis of the multi-employer HERO health risk and cost database. 
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
, 
40
(10), 843–854.

Green, A. R., Carney, D. R., Pallin, D. J., Ngo, L. H., Raymond, K. L., Iezzoni, L. I., & Banaji, M. R. (2007). Implicit bias among physicians and its prediction of thrombolysis decisions for black and white patients. 
Journal of General Internal Medicine
, 
22
, 1231-1238.

Horstmann, D. J. (2018). 
Health-specific leadership and employee health: The influence of contextual and individual factors in a healthcare setting
(Doctoral dissertation, by Medien-und Informationszentrum, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg Files in This Item: File Size Format Dissertation_David_Horstmann_2018. Pdf MD5: da1cbb4a81a6f1b5535e4fbec1a7b4b9 License: Nutzung nach Urheberrecht open-access 1.45 MB Adobe PDF View/Open Items in PubData are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. Views Show full item record) Self-Implicit Bias and Health Equity in Nursing