From the ArcaMax Publishing, Health & Fitness Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/healthtips/s-381437-736521
SEATTLE (UPI) -- A sophisticated cognitive test suggests that U.S.
physicians -- like society at large -- have subconscious racial
attitudes and stereotypes, researchers say.
The study, published in the journal Medical Care, suggests that
pediatricians have less "implicit race bias" than physicians in other
specialties and the general public and that there was no relationship
between subconscious bias and quality of care.
"Further research is needed to explore whether physician implicit
attitudes and stereotypes about race predict quality of care," Janice
A. Sabin and colleagues of University of Washington said in a
statement.
Ninety-five pediatricians took an Internet survey called the Race
Attitude Implicit Association that measures subconscious attitudes
and stereotypes based on how quickly the user makes connections
between race and certain "good" versus "bad" concepts. Previous
research in more than 1 million Internet users suggest that most
people have some degree of "implicit preference" for whites relative
to blacks -- despite a lack of conscious, or explicit, bias or
prejudice.
The pediatricians expressed an explicit attitude in favor of
African-Americans, however, in addition to their implicit preference
for whites, they held a subconscious bias that white patients would be
more compliant with medical treatment, the researchers said.