Implicit bias mitigation tools that we can use at an institutional level and also at individual levels. So, committees that make decisions, for example, for example, selection of fellows, hiring of leaders, deciding who's going to be eligible for transplant, et cetera, should be intentionally diverse. It should be intentionally diverse because when there's diversity of personnel, there's diversity of thought, there's diversity of opinions, and when there's diversity of thought and opinions, then we more often than not get to conclusions that benefits the whole and decreases disparities in what we're doing. We need to practice, practice, practice. These subtle activities shouldn't be a one-off activity because we're here today, within the next year, there are going to be so many other things that come at us from all different directions that what we learn here today is going to start decreasing over time. So, what we need to do is to practice these mitigation strategies over and over and over on a day-to-day basis so that it's always in the forefront of our minds when we are confronted with these situations. And we can make reminder cliff notes on implicit bias mitigation or cheat sheets that will make it helpful. We can always refer to it again and again whenever these decisions come up for us to decrease implicit bias in our day-to-day lives. Quinn and company made this awesome cheat sheet here as to how clinicians and educators can mitigate implicit bias in patient care and candidate seduction in medical education. For example, we were talking about the pictures when applications are coming in for medical schools or residency fellowships. Remove blind photos in ERAS applications. So at least you take away that visual as to whether someone is black or Hispanic or white. You take that away from the initial thought process that you have. Remove academic metrics from applications. Monitor implicit association testing. And when we do that, then we know where we stand as individuals when we do those implicit association testing. So we get a sense as to how much we need to mitigate our biases. Implicit bias mitigation workshop and training, as we're doing here, this should be standard and mandatory throughout our organizations. And use of implicit bias reduction cheat sheets, as we spoke about. This is just an example here of the implicit bias reduction cheat sheet for interview days when candidates are coming through your universities, medical schools, et cetera. Just to keep reminding yourselves about the implicit bias mitigation strategies that work in decreasing implicit bias. So there are individual biases and there are also institutional biases. And institutional biases may reflect organizational history and policies and procedures. And we as leaders, and you as emerging leaders, need to look at your organization and at every step of your journey up the ladder. Look to see what it is that we have in place systemically that's allowing implicit bias to affect what we do. At SC&I, I think SC&I is leading the example in this. From a DEI perspective, we've just looked at the SC&I policies and included DEI language in the SC&I policy so that as we make decisions going forward, those decisions will incorporate DEI issues and will help us to change the culture and change the framework in which we operate. Because institutional biases unknowingly shape the culture of organizations. When you hear that organizations are toxic or that organizations are not advancing DEI issues, et cetera, this is something that's systemic that needs to change. And the only way it can change is if we change it. We who understand the ramifications of this, if we are able to identify these issues and change them. Because leadership matters. And you're all leaders and rising leaders within the organization. So what have we learned? We've learned that we're all subject to having biases. Quinn has biases. I have biases. Everyone has biases. A few months ago, I was in the office, you know, seeing a patient and the patient came in, heard my accent and said, where are you from? And I'm like, I'm from the Caribbean. And as I said that, he said, oh, I love reggae. And you guys have really good weed. And I'm like, I'm not Jamaican. I'm from, that's what I'm thinking in my mind. I'm not Jamaican. I'm from Grenada. Right? Yeah, I like reggae. Soca is my thing and Calypso. And we don't like weed in Grenada. And I found myself thinking, well, you know, I'm being stereotypical against Jamaicans. Right? Because not all Jamaicans like weed either. Right? So we all have these implicit biases that just, you know, pop up. But when we pause and we rethink things, then, you know, we're able to figure it out and move forward. Implicit or unconscious bias is not just about race. Right? It affects, it goes beyond race. I think when we limit the discussion to just race, we're cheapening what we're doing. Race is a large part of it, but it goes beyond race. Biases must be individually recognized so that it can be internally addressed. We have to be honest with ourselves. We have to understand that we have biases. We're not above the laws of psychology that, you know, governs the way we think. So we have to understand that. And when we do that, we can internally address those issues. Implicit bias training is more than just increasing awareness of bias and its impact. It's not enough to be aware. We also need to have strategies to decrease the biases, not just be aware of it. We can't just say, yeah, yeah, their biases exist and we know it exists and we move on. Implicit bias training teaches us to manage our biases, change our behaviors, and track our progress. And there are implicit bias training strategies that have been shown to be simple, effective, and sustainable, just as we did today. These four simple things can help as we look to decrease implicit biases. So are we missing the mark and why? There are multiple studies out there that shows that we're still missing the implicit bias training mark. Because most organizations worried about backlash make implicit bias training voluntary. It wasn't voluntary for you guys, right? It said, you guys have to show up. Because when we make it voluntary, what happens? The same people who were interested in implicit bias mitigation and learning about implicit bias, these are the same people that show up over and over and over. So we keep talking in an echo chamber. And if we don't make implicit bias training mandatory, then we won't be able to diffuse this information out into the general community so that we can improve. Organizations don't collect information on metrics they claim to care about. And it's hard to improve something if you're not even tracking it. So if in your organization you care about a particular issue, you need to track it. You need to track it, see where you are at baseline, and just as you do for any scientific study, see where you are at baseline, put the mitigation, the implicit bias mitigation strategies in place, and then check it again three months, six months, one year down the line just to make sure that you're having an impact and that we're changing the parameters within which we operate. And current implicit bias training doesn't go much past beyond explaining the science behind bias and the cost of discrimination in organizations. The idea that we can reduce our bias simply by being aware of it is a fatal flaw. So many organizations just have a session, talk about implicit bias, and move on. So what we've challenged ourselves at SC&I and when we did this with the Board of Trustees, we challenged SC&I and we need to challenge ourselves that rather than providing implicit bias training as check-the-box exercise that many institutions do, our organization needs to make a real long-term commitment to implicit bias training because we as an organization think it's worthy and important. We have to understand the worthiness and importance of these exercises and make it systemic within our organization. Implicit bias training is not just a one-time education session. It entails a longer journey through which mindsets and prejudices are positively transformed, leading to that fertile ground where true diversity, equity, and inclusion can take root and organically thrive. So it's your job, it's our job, it's SC&I's job to make sure that we have this atmosphere where we can foster diversity, equity, and inclusion to make this a better organization for all of us and for all our patients. So we'd like to acknowledge Javier, Javier isn't here today, Stacy, she also helped put this slide deck together, Aubrey Grant, as Dr. Capers mentioned, who provided us the video, Joaquin Sigueroa, who's our SC&I DEI chair, Benita Shaw, our co-chair, and also the SC&I DEI committee, subcommittees, and SC&I senior leadership for allowing us to be here to present to you today.

implicit bias mitigation

diversity in decision-making

mitigation strategies

institutional biases

implicit bias training