Bias in Nursing Practice

/ Blogs / By

1: Why is it important to identify bias?

2: How might bias impact your decision-making in nursing practice?

Instructions: APA FORMAT, AT LEAST 3 REFERENCES,

bias in nursing practice

Importance of Identifying Bias in Nursing Practice

Bias in nursing practice can manifest consciously or unconsciously and significantly impact patient care. Identifying bias is essential for ensuring equitable treatment, improving patient outcomes, and maintaining ethical standards. Here’s why:

  1. Enhances Quality of Care: Bias, particularly unconscious or implicit bias, can affect how nurses perceive and treat patients. For instance, biases related to race, gender, age, or socioeconomic status can influence clinical decisions, leading to disparities in care. Recognizing these biases allows healthcare professionals to provide more personalized and fair care, focusing solely on the patient’s clinical needs without being influenced by personal judgments (FitzGerald & Hurst, 2017).
  2. Supports Ethical Practice: Nursing practice is guided by ethical principles, including justice and beneficence. Identifying and addressing bias ensures that all patients receive the same level of care regardless of their background, supporting the principle of justice. Moreover, the Code of Ethics for Nurses emphasizes the need for non-discriminatory practices. Nurses who are aware of their biases are better equipped to uphold these ethical standards (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2015).
  3. Promotes Cultural Competence: Identifying bias contributes to cultural competence, an essential aspect of nursing in diverse societies. It allows nurses to better understand and respect patients’ cultural backgrounds and avoid stereotyping, which can hinder communication and care delivery. Being aware of one’s biases helps create a therapeutic relationship based on trust and respect, leading to improved patient satisfaction and outcomes (Sanner & Wilson, 2008).

Impact of Bias on Decision-Making in Nursing Practice

Bias can significantly affect decision-making processes in nursing, influencing clinical judgment, patient interactions, and health outcomes:

  1. Diagnostic Errors: Bias can lead to misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis. For example, a nurse who unconsciously believes that a certain group is less likely to suffer from specific conditions might overlook or downplay symptoms in those patients. This could result in inadequate treatment or missed opportunities for early intervention (Chapman et al., 2013).
  2. Variations in Treatment: Bias can lead to discrepancies in treatment recommendations. Nurses might provide more aggressive or conservative treatment based on biased assumptions about a patient’s pain tolerance, ability to adhere to treatment plans, or likelihood of benefiting from certain interventions. This affects the quality and effectiveness of care provided (Institute of Medicine, 2003).
  3. Patient-Provider Relationships: Bias can also impact the nurse-patient relationship, creating barriers to effective communication and trust. If patients perceive that they are being judged or treated unfairly, they may be less likely to share critical health information, adhere to treatment plans, or seek care in the future, which compromises patient safety and outcomes (Stone & Moskowitz, 2011).

In conclusion, identifying and addressing bias is crucial in nursing practice as it promotes fair treatment, enhances cultural competence, and supports ethical decision-making. Nurses who are aware of their biases can provide higher-quality care and make more informed, objective clinical decisions.

References

American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. American Nurses Publishing.

Chapman, E. N., Kaatz, A., & Carnes, M. (2013). Physicians and implicit bias: How doctors may unwittingly perpetuate health care disparities. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 28(11), 1504–1510. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-013-2441-1

FitzGerald, C., & Hurst, S. (2017). Implicit bias in healthcare professionals: A systematic review. BMC Medical Ethics, 18(1), 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-017-0179-8

Institute of Medicine. (2003). Unequal treatment: Confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care. National Academies Press.

Sanner, S., & Wilson, A. H. (2008). The experiences of nurse practitioners providing health care to minorities. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 20(2), 87–94. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-7599.2007.00300.x

Stone, J., & Moskowitz, G. B. (2011). Non-conscious bias in medical decision making: What can be done to reduce it? Medical Education, 45(8), 768–776. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.04026.x

Scroll to Top