Breaking the Bias-Habit: A Workshop to Help Internal Medicine Residents Reduce the Impact of Implicit Bias

Physicians may develop habituated responses in interpersonal interactions based on cultural stereotypes (implicit biases). With growing awareness of the impact of implicit bias on judgment and decision making, “implicit bias training” is being widely recommended and implemented in medical training. We developed and evaluated a workshop intended to help internal medical residents – physicians-in-training who provide direct patient care - identify the potential for implicit bias in their clinical and professional interactions and provide them with cognitive behavioral strategies that have been shown to “break the bias habit.” The workshop content (1) demonstrated how implicit bias functions as a habit of mind, (2) promoted bias literacy among participants, (3) and translated evidence-based strategies to reduce the influence of bias into the realm of residents’ clinical and professional experiences. Post-workshop surveys and focus groups assessed residents’ reactions to workshop content and preparedness to implement bias-reducing strategies. Data was aggregated and analyzed for major themes and findings. Most residents felt implicit bias was important to their personal learning and were motivated to change their interpersonal behaviors. Over half our participants felt prepared to immediately implement bias-reducing strategies. Internal medicine residents will become practicing physicians, researchers, educators, and academic leaders in primary care and medical sub-specialties (e.g. cardiology) in the largest physician specialty. We do not know the long-term impact of this workshop, but preliminary feedback suggests it was effective in increasing residents’ awareness of implicit bias, as well as motivation and self-efficacy to practice bias habit-reducing behaviors in clinical and professional interactions.