UC Merced

As the healthcare profession has become more diverse, physicians may encounter patients who discriminate against them based on their group identity. Most past research has focused on addressing healthcare workers’ negative bias toward patients, yet incidents of patient bias toward healthcare workers also occur. Patient bias is prejudice, racism, and/or discrimination against healthcare workers by patients experienced during patient-provider interactions and decision-making. Experiencing discrimination due to these biases can negatively influence healthcare workers’ health and well-being and reduce their persistence in their careers. Yet, to my knowledge, no studies have measured patients’ implicit bias toward healthcare workers. Thus, in two studies, I examined patients’ implicit bias toward Hispanic physicians and two important qualities for physician-patient interaction: trustworthiness and competence. I also examined how these biases related to whether people chose a Hispanic physician, their perceptions of care by a Hispanic physician, and their intentions to adhere to medical advice from Hispanic physicians. Across both studies, participants implicitly rated White physicians more favorably (i.e., more implicitly trustworthy and competent) than Hispanic physicians. Results suggested that people were more likely to choose a Hispanic physician to the extent that they implicitly associated Hispanic physicians with competence and more likely to adhere to physicians to the extent that they rated Hispanic physicians as implicitly competent and trustworthy. Additionally, results suggested Hispanic participants were more sensitive to physician ethnicity than were White participants. Specifically, Hispanic participants who were assigned a Hispanic physician were more likely to be confident in the diagnosis to the extent they reported implicit trustworthiness and competence ratings for Hispanic physicians. Additionally, Hispanic participants who were assigned a Hispanic physician were more likely to believe the diagnosis to the extent they reported implicit trustworthiness ratings for Hispanic physicians. Finally, Hispanic participants assigned a White physician were more likely to request a second opinion and less likely to be confident in the physician’s diagnosis to the extent they reported implicit trustworthiness ratings for Hispanic physicians.