• Gabriel S Tajeu, Jewell Halanych, Lucia Juarez, Jeff Stone, Irena Stepanikova, Alexander Green, and Andrea L Cherrington.
• Department of Health Services Administration and Policy, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Electronic address: gabriel.tajeu@temple.edu.
• J Natl Med Assoc. 2018 Oct 1; 110 (5): 464-472.

BackgroundRacial bias is associated with suboptimal healthcare treatment for minorities. Research focuses on bias among physicians rather than non-physician healthcare staff (e.g., receptionists). Patients spend considerable amounts of time with non-physician staff. Therefore, we investigate differences in implicit and explicit racial bias by healthcare staff race and occupation using the Implicit Association Test and Modern Racism Scale, respectively.MethodsStaff (n = 107) were recruited using the Alabama based Primary Care Research Coalition. Occupation was categorized into "medical doctors/registered nurses" (MD/RN) and "non-MD/RN" (e.g., receptionists).ResultsImplicit bias scores were higher among whites compared with blacks (0.62, -0.04, respectively; p < 0.01). Among whites, non-MD/RNs demonstrated more pro-white implicit bias compared with MD/RNs (0.67, 0.44, respectively; p < 0.01). Whites had higher explicit bias scores than blacks (17.7, 12.3, respectively; p < 0.01).ConclusionNon-MD/RNs should not be overlooked for cultural competency training, and efforts are needed to reduce racial bias among healthcare workers identified as having higher levels of bias.Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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