Implicit Bias in Nursing
Week 5 Discussion: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Nursing Leadership
Discussion Overview: Project Implicit is an international collaborative group of researchers interested in implicit social cognition. The Project Implicit website offers an Implicit Association Test (IAT) from a list of possible topics. For this week’s discussion, visit the website implicit.harvard.eduLinks to an external site. and choose a topic to investigate your own implicit bias. Click Project Implicit Featured Task to take an available test. There is no need to create a login.
Note: You are not required to share your results, please do so only if you feel comfortable discussing them in a group setting.
Discussion Prompts: After completing the exercise, reflect upon a situation where you became aware of your own implicit bias or developed awareness of someone else’s implicit bias.
- How has your awareness of implicit bias evolved?
- How does this implicit bias impact the delivery of care, and communication within the interdisciplinary team?
- What is one leadership strategy that you could employ to demonstrate cultural humility and positively impact the situation to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion?
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Implicit Bias in Nursing
Awareness of Implicit Bias and Its Impact on Nursing Leadership
After completing the Implicit Association Test (IAT), I reflected on a past experience during clinical practice where I observed implicit bias in action. A nurse unintentionally communicated less warmly to a patient who did not speak English fluently. This affected the patient’s comfort level and understanding of care instructions. Witnessing this moment helped me recognize how unconscious attitudes can influence patient outcomes, even when there is no intention to harm. It also made me reflect on times when I may have unknowingly held assumptions about patients based on age or socioeconomic background.
Over time, my awareness of implicit bias has grown significantly. Initially, I thought that being kind and fair was enough. However, learning about implicit bias has taught me that unconscious attitudes still affect our behavior. This awareness helps me pay closer attention to how I interact with patients and team members, especially when differences in culture or background are involved. Transitioning from unconscious ignorance to conscious awareness is key to providing equitable care.
Leadership and Cultural Humility in Nursing
Implicit bias can influence how nurses communicate and collaborate with interdisciplinary team members. It may lead to unequal input during team discussions or misunderstandings in care planning. For example, a team member’s ideas may be undervalued due to gender or racial assumptions. This compromises not only team effectiveness but also the quality of patient care. Leaders must work to ensure all voices are heard and respected.
