Volume 33, Issue 1 pp. 9-18
Review Article

Review article: Implicit bias towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients within Australian emergency departments

Alyssa Quigley

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 author
Jennie Hutton

Jennie 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 author
Georgina Phillips

Georgina 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 author
Darlene Dreise

Darlene Dreise

Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) Steering Committee, St Vincent's Health Australia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Search for more papers by this author
Toni Mason

Toni Mason

Aboriginal Health Unit, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Search for more papers by this author
Gail Garvey

Gail 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 author
Yin Paradies

Yin Paradies

Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 28 November 2020
Citations: 16
Alyssa Quigley, BBiomedSc, Medical Student; Jennie Hutton, MBChB, MPH, FACEM, Emergency Physician; Georgina Phillips, MBBS, FACEM, PhD Scholar; Darlene Dreise, BEd, MEd, MLearnInnov, Chair; Toni Mason, GradDipIndigHProm, Manager; Gail Garvey, BEd, MEd, PhD, Senior Principal Research Fellow, Senior Aboriginal Research Fellow; Yin Paradies, BSc, MMedStats, MPH, PhD, Chair.

Abstract

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.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.