Session: Clinical Ethics: Patient Preference and Bias
Responding to Discriminatory Requests/Refusals from Patients: Healthcare Providers’ Experiences and Institutional Recommendations for Policy
Saturday, September 21, 2024
10:15 AM – 11:15 AM CT
Location: Midway 6 (First Floor)
Abstract: Contemporary discourses on racism in healthcare typically consider the impact of systemic barriers on racialized patients or interpersonal acts of racism from healthcare providers. This framing considers one direction of the bi-directional relationship between patient and provider, completely ignoring the threat of racist patients. The question of how to deal with racist patients is one that has been relatively neglected in the broader academic literature on racism and health. A small but growing body of work has addressed aspects of this issue, but predominantly from the lens of physicians. Little is known about the experiences of the wider multidisciplinary healthcare team. This paper is part of a larger quality improvement project focused on the revision of a patient bias policy in a Canadian academic health sciences hospital. From August 2022 – May 2023, we conducted 27 semi-structured interviews exploring the experiences of nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, recreational therapists, social workers, and physicians when faced with or in responding to racism and other forms of patient bias. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we explore the following high-level themes: strategies for addressing biased comments or requests, the impact of the work culture and wider organizational environment, and ideal organizational responses. We conclude with concrete recommendations for healthcare systems in addressing their obligations to healthcare workers in ensuring for a discrimination free workplace.
Learning Objectives:
After participating in this conference, attendees should be able to:
1. understand the different types of discriminatory requests and refusals experienced by Canadian healthcare workers
2. understand the relevant legislation applicable to healthcare workers’ experiences of discrimination in Ontario, Canada
3. understand the key areas that ought to be embedded in organizational policy on patient bias
