Bias

Policy

We acknowledge that unconscious and systemic bias is present in our health system and creates barriers to health care for some groups of people. We understand that bias is a factor in the unequal health outcomes that exist between groups of people in New Zealand.

As a health provider, we are committed to anti-racism and addressing bias and discrimination in all forms, by:

• supporting our team to identify any unconscious biases they hold and understand how these could impact the care they offer
• creating a no-blame environment where biases can be discussed and learned from without judgement
• making our equity values clear to applicants during recruitment
• openly discussing equity and bias with our team to increase understanding.

See also Diversity

We train our team to understand key terms and concepts:

• implicit or unconscious bias

  Unconscious or implicit bias is when someone has a stereotyped idea of what a person – or group of people – are like based on factors like their ethnicity, gender, or age. A common example of unconscious or implicit bias is assuming that an elderly person won't understand something because of their age.

  People often aren't aware they hold these kinds of biases.

  Source: Australian Human Rights Commission

• interpersonal racism

  Interpersonal racism is the kind of racist abuse, harassment, jokes, comments, or exclusion that happens during interactions between individuals, or between groups of people.

  This kind of racism between people is also referred to as everyday racism or casual racism.

  Source: Australian Human Rights Commission

• institutional, systemic, or structural racism

  The terms institutional, systemic, and structural racism describe the entrenched behaviours, inequalities, and barriers that are established as normal behaviour within an organisation or institution. This is often deep within the institution's structures.

  Source: Australian Human Rights Commission

• privilege

  Privilege is an advantage that is only available to some people, or groups of people.

  Acknowledging privilege is about recognising that our society's systems and institutions are designed from the perspectives of people of certain groups and not others.

  Source: Australian Human Rights Commission

A good way to begin discussions around unconscious/implicit bias is to encourage your team to take the Project Implicit Skin-tone Implicit Association Test. Other useful resources are the Institute for Healthcare Improvement videos How Does Bias Affect Health Care? and What is Bias and What can Medical Professionals do to Address it?