Fostering Implicit Bias Mitigation and Compassionate Behavior Throughout the Curricula at RVU

by Jacqueline Powell, PhD, Associate Professor of Physiology, and Daneka Souberbielle, MA, Advisor

On September 3rd, RVU-CO’s Department of Medical Humanities and Jacqueline Powell, PhD, Associate Professor of Physiology, presented a faculty development session entitled, “Fostering Implicit Bias Mitigation and Compassionate Behavior Throughout the Curricula at RVU.”

The session was intended to loosely emulate the Medical Humanities course for the Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences (MSBS) program in which student discussions regarding implicit bias and communication difficulties, followed by critical reflections, promoted increases in reflective capacity and empathy as well as changes in behavior to mitigate biases and become more compassionate. The course enabled many students to note that their “unconscious bias might affect some of their clinical decisions or behaviors as a healthcare professional,” and helped them become more aware of such biases when interacting with others in service-related activities.

With many institutions, nationally and worldwide, recognizing the importance of implementing sensitivity training in acknowledging and addressing implicit bias, RVU is no different. With ‘Diversity’ as one of RVU’s seven core Institutional Learning Outcomes, we felt it important that our faculty members also have the opportunity to engage in such an educational activity that could bring forth awareness of implicit biases, foster critical reflection, bias mitigation, and compassionate behavior, and provide a means to institutionalize this approach for all healthcare professional trainees.

In addition to viewing videos created by the Gates foundation, small group discussion sessions were facilitated, engaging the faculty in answering the following questions:

1. What are explicit and implicit biases? 2. How are implicit biases associated with unconscious microaggressions?

3. Can reflections to expose our implicit biases and microaggressions help prevent substandard teaching and healthcare?

4. How can students/faculty/staff help one another identify their unconscious biases and microaggressions?

5. How can we foster implicit bias mitigation and compassionate behavior throughout the curricula at RVU?

This session format provided a safe platform for difficult conversations without fear of judgment, and the response from faculty was overwhelmingly positive/favorable:

• “I am grateful to work with colleagues who are willing to engage in these difficult conversations. I'm also grateful to work with colleagues willing and able to facilitate such conversations. Bravo!”

• “The best part was that it was a safe place to talk about our thoughts without fear of judgment. Important we could act as "devil's advocate" or give unpopular opinions to test the waters and get feedback.”

• “Excellent presentation! Liked the format to encourage discussion in small groups. We just needed more time!”

To allow for more time and to further foster this development, a second faculty development session addressing health care equity and disparities, reflective practice, and bias mitigation is currently being organized to be held in January 2021.