Targeting Implicit Bias in Medicine: Lessons from Art and Archaeology

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Amy Zeidan, Emory University; Anne Tiballi, University of Pennsylvania; Melanie Woodward, University of Pennsylvania; Isha Maria Di Bartolo, Rowan University
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-01-01
• Publisher: eScholarship
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2020 Zeidan et al.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2019.9.44041
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Western Journal of Emergency Medicine: Integrating Emergency Care with Population Health
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 1
• End Page: 3
• Grant/Funding Information: None declared
• Keywords: Emergency Medicine; Deep description; Science & Technology; Implicit bias; Internal medicine; Art; Archeology and anthropology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Improved understanding
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Health Care Management; Education, Art; Sociology, Public and Social Welfare; Anthropology, Medical and Forensic

Abstract

Implicit bias training is not currently a required component of residency education, yet implicit bias in medicine exists and may influence care provided to patients. We propose an innovative exercise that allows trainees to explore implicit bias outside of the clinical environment, in an interdisciplinary manner with museum anthropologists and archaeologists. The curriculum was designed with leaders at the Penn Museum and focuses on differentiating between objective and subjective assessments of historical objects. The first part of the exercise consists of a pre-brief, to introduce trainees to bias through the lens of an anthropologist/archaeologist. The second part guides trainees through "deep description," where they explore objective and subjective findings of three different objects. The exercise concludes with a debrief and application of concepts learned to everyday clinical practice. This innovation was successful at introducing trainees to implicit bias in a nontraditional environment, and participants reported an improved understanding of implicit bias. Residency programs could consider partnering with local museums to implement a similar exercise as a component of conference curriculum.