XA3003 Competency Discussion Question and Answer
XA3003 Competency Discussion Question and Answer
- Why is it important to identify bias?
- How might bias impact your decision-making in nursing practice?
XA3003 Competency Discussion Question and Answer
Undeniably, we are all hardwired with biases that may or may not be obvious to ourselves or others. Every individual has their own life experiences that are impacted by demographic, cultural, and socioeconomic status. For example, some of us have traveled and moved around the U.S. or to other countries, while others may remain in our hometown our whole life. Additionally, some of us may face illness or disability, incur financial struggles or gains, experience loss or gain of loved ones, or fall into addiction or homelessness.
A bias can be either positive or negative. For example, someone who was raised by a single mom due to their father being in jail for domestic violence, may carry a bias with them their whole life that views men as being untrusting or dangerous. To expand on this, they may carry a bias toward women that makes them believe that women are more trusting and more resilient than men.
It’s important to recognize our biases to avoid repeated unconscious and unfair opinions that can evolve into behaviors. These biases are inevitably inherited between generations as children are easily molded by their surroundings. Having this in mind, we can break generational biases by recognizing them and taking initiatives toward changing our mindset, which, in turn will take effect on our children. Additionally, we can turn these biases into something positive by being more empathetic towards others who may have experienced hardships similar to our own.
You can see how biases can impact a nurses’ decision-making in their practice. A nurse who may have been exposed to abuse by a male partner and ends up taking care of an inmate who is serving time for this same offense, may have difficulty providing unbiased care. It’s important to recognize these biases to prevent unfair treatment toward patients and recognize that each patient has their own story that may help explain their actions.
A real-life experience I’ve witnessed was in the ER was witnessing a nurse ignore her patient’s call light who had been ringing repeatedly. This particular patient had an open fracture and was obviously in severe pain. This nurse had made the comment that she can’t give anything for pain since her patient was “an addict who probably wouldn’t feel anything from the pain meds anyway.” Before meeting the patient, she had seen in his chart that he had a history of opioid use disorder. She failed this patient from both legal and ethical standpoint. She failed to uphold her responsibility as a nurse providing evidence-based and empathetic care. I addressed my concerns directly with this nurse and presented her with the evidence on pain management for patients with opioid use disorder. I also pointed out that the provider had ordered the narcotic and that if they didn’t want it used, they would not have ordered it. This nurse was receptive to the takeaway from our conversation and explained that lately she had been dealing with an overwhelming amount of “pain med seekers” and was getting burnt out. To summarize, she admitted that she should have set aside her bias and treated the illness, not her opinions about the patient.
As nurses we become jaded by our “repeat offenders.” These biases can evolve into harmful patient care can unfortunately result in the public losing trust in the healthcare system.