A new U.S. study indicates that a physician's racial bias can lead to poor communication and medical treatment for black cancer patients.
In the study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers observed 18 non-black oncologists and 112 of their black patients at various cancer hospitals in Detroit. Before the study, the oncologists completed an implicit racial bias test.
Two weeks later, researchers videotaped the interactions between oncologists and black patients, asking the patients to fill out a survey after the interaction regarding their levels of distress and trust, and their perceptions about the recommended treatment.
The researchers found that while all the oncologists had low to moderate levels of implicit bias, those with higher levels of implicit racial bias had shorter interactions with their black patients. These patients rated the encounters as less patient-centered and supportive. They also had a harder time remembering what the oncologist talked about during the conversation and felt less confident about recommended treatments.
"The surprising part to me is that black cancer patients, in the midst of all the other things they must be thinking as they deal with their cancer, can detect this bias in the behavior of their physician" Louis A. Penner, PhD, researcher at Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit and lead author of the study, said in a Reuters report.
Reducing the amount of implicit racial bias in cancer interactions could play a significant role in decreasing treatment disparities between white and black patients, said Dr. Penner.
He believes exposing medical students to more diversity in medical school and providing more communication training for physicians could reduce implicit bias and improve patient care for minorities.
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