In this weird, trying time of dealing with a global pandemic, health care and health service providers have been in the forefront in countless people’s minds. It is the expectation of every person that if they need health care, a doctor, a hospital etc. they will receive the best possible care available to them, and not have to worry about mediocre care based on their race, religion, or any kind of other appearance.
For the sake of explaining and dissecting the issues of health care bias, I will be focusing on Middle-Eastern Muslim people. According to a study conducted by Mary Brigid Martin PhD, RN-BC, CTN-A, a certified transcultural nurse, it was found that “Almost one-third of Muslims in the Journal of Muslim Mental Health said they had perceived being discriminated against in a health-care setting.” Source.
Within this same study, it was found “To inquire if participants experienced discrimination in the health care setting, item number 13 elicited a “Yes/No” response: Did you ever feel that you were discriminated against in the health care setting because you are Muslim? A total of 62 (27.6%) responded “Yes” and 163 (72.4%) responded “No”.” Source. While 27.6% of the responses within the sample surveyed said that they felt as if they were discriminated against because they were Muslim is less than those that felt non-discriminated against, that does not mean there is not an issue. That means that there is still 27.6% of an issue, and even more because there are millions of Muslims that were not surveyed in this study, which must be considered.
A Muslim family recounts a very traumatic time in November of 2019 in which they faced discrimination in a hospital. “A Muslim family went to a hospital in Northern Virginia to celebrate a joyous occasion: the birth of a newborn baby. But they say hospital staff humiliated them by telling them they looked “scary,” and threatened to kick them out.” They continue, “”He screams and he says, ‘You’re not allowed to be here!’ And then he said, ‘You know, you look scary,'” she recalled. “I was shocked, like, ‘Did he say that?'” The story, unfortunately, continued in a very poor way, “”It was surprising to me. First of all, we weren’t threatening in any way. No one had done anything,” Ahmed Zahr said. Source.
According to Quality Interactions, a blog created for health care professionals, “Unconscious (or implicit) bias occurs when this automatic processing is influenced by stereotypes, and therefore those stereotypes impact your actions and judgments.” While this is very true, the post continues, “Unconscious bias can lead to false assumptions and negative outcomes. This is especially dangerous in healthcare, where decisions can mean life or death. As more attention is paid to health disparities in the United States, there is increasing evidence that unconscious bias leads to negative outcomes for minority groups in healthcare settings. This in turn contributes to health disparities, in which certain groups experience inequalities in the provision of and access to healthcare.”
It is important for health care providers to acknowledge that this unconscious bias is most likely present in their judgement, because acknowledging that the bias is present is the first step in getting rid of this unfair judgement. If someone refuses to accept that there may be bias present in their judgement, than they will not make the proper changes and adjustments when it is needed to provide the best possible care. Health care providers must acknowledge that their job to care for others does not just include certain people with certain stories and backgrounds, but includes everybody who walks, rolls, or crawls through their doors.
To help health care workplaces eliminate judgement and discrimination, there must be classes put in place, and immediate revocation of medical license if an incident like this occurs. Hate should not be present in a place where hope must be the leading force.
