Review article: Implicit bias towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients within Australian emergency departments
Corresponding Author
Alyssa Quigley
Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Correspondence: Ms Alyssa Quigley, St Vincent's Hospital Clinical School, 23 Regent Street, Fitzroy, VIC 3065, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorJennie Hutton
Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Emergency Department, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorGeorgina Phillips
Emergency Department, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorDarlene Dreise
Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) Steering Committee, St Vincent's Health Australia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorToni Mason
Aboriginal Health Unit, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorGail Garvey
Menzies School of Health Research, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Aboriginal Health, St Vincent's Health Australia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorYin Paradies
Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Alyssa Quigley
Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Correspondence: Ms Alyssa Quigley, St Vincent's Hospital Clinical School, 23 Regent Street, Fitzroy, VIC 3065, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorJennie Hutton
Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Emergency Department, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorGeorgina Phillips
Emergency Department, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorDarlene Dreise
Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) Steering Committee, St Vincent's Health Australia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorToni Mason
Aboriginal Health Unit, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorGail Garvey
Menzies School of Health Research, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Aboriginal Health, St Vincent's Health Australia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorYin Paradies
Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to suffer adverse experiences in healthcare, with inequitable care prevalent in emergency settings. Individual, institutional and systemic factors play a significant part in these persisting healthcare disparities, with biases remaining entrenched in healthcare institutions. This includes implicit racial bias which can result in stereotyping of racial minorities and premature diagnostic closure. Furthermore, it may contribute to distrust of medical professionals resulting in higher rates of leave events and hinder racial minorities from seeking care or following treatment recommendations. The aim of this review is to analyse the effect of implicit bias on patient outcomes in the ED in international literature and explore how these studies correlate to an Australian context.
Open Research
Data availability statement
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.
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