In our third session with the Emergency Medicine Department at the University of Cincinnati, we returned to the topic of unconscious bias. Exactly a year after our first meeting, we revisited key topics on unconscious bias and spent the rest of our session together doing applied learning using the 50 Ways to Fight Bias cards from LeanIn.org.
When debriefing from the activity, a participant pointed out that while in the field, medical professionals are encouraged to challenge one another and have difficult conversations, but the thought of doing so around having those conversations related to bias feels very uncomfortable. The observation was that while you may feel comfortable challenging someone in your area of expertise, it is a greater challenge to do so when it is outside the norm. This is why it is critical for everyone to be open to being "called in" on bias-related actions so everyone can work toward interrupting bias when they see it.
We love hearing these types of insights and seeing how they resonate with our audiences! The UC Emergency Medicine Department continues to keep up the great work in the diversity and inclusion space and we can’t wait to see what they do next.