An estimated 70 percent of black physicians said they have heard biased comments from patients, according to a joint study conducted by Medscape.
For the study, produced in conjunction with WebMD and STAT, researchers surveyed 934 consumers and 822 physicians about biases in the U.S. healthcare system.
Here are five findings from the report.
1. The majority of physicians (59 percent) said they have heard an offensive comment about their personal characteristics or background from a patient within the last five years.
2. The most commonly reported types of biased remarks related to:
- Age: 28 percent
- Ethnicity/national origin: 22 percent
- Gender: 20 percent
- Race: 19 percent
- Religion: 12 percent
- Weight: 12 percent
- Political views: 11 percent
- Accent: 10 percent
- Medical education outside of the U.S.: 6 percent
- Sexual orientation: 4 percent
3. Nearly one-third (29 percent) of patients said they purposely have or would have avoided a healthcare provider during the past 5 years because of the provider's personal characteristics if the circumstances arose.
4. While 59 percent of physicians identified as having heard a biased comment about their personal characteristics, the plurality of black physicians (70 percent) identified as being subjected to patients' biases, followed by Asian physicians (69 percent), Hispanic physicians (63 percent) and Caucasian physicians (55 percent).
5. The majority of physicians (85 percent) surveyed said their institution doesn't provide training for dealing with bias, or didn't know whether their institution provides such training.
To view the study, click here.