Introduction: Bias is something that is becoming more and more prevalent in the world today. Bias can be described as either being for or against something in a way that is usually considered unfair or unequal. Bias in healthcare can lead to some individuals not receiving the proper care needed and may even harm the individual even more. It can also affect how data gets retrieved about groups of people and the trust people put in the healthcare industry. This paper will discuss bias in healthcare data, how healthcare bias impacts data-driven algorithms in healthcare, and how bias in healthcare can impact social inequities. Bias In Healthcare Data Bias can be seen in healthcare, although it can also be “invisible.” HIMSS uses information from …show more content…
Bias in healthcare data can result in health inequities. Using things like AI can usually be beneficial for diagnoses and coming up with treatments, but can also result in patients not receiving the correct or proper care that is needed to treat them. Bias can also be defined statistically and socially when it comes to medicine. Norori et al. Al defines statistical bias as the distribution of a given dataset not reflecting the actual distribution of a population. They define social bias as inequities that may result in a flawed way for given groups of the human population. One of the biggest reasons there is bias in healthcare data is due to the lack of diversity in data being used to train computer programs that run algorithms to come up with diagnoses and treatments for individuals. How Healthcare Bias Impacts Data-driven Algorithms in Healthcare One problem that leads to healthcare data bias is the lack of AI algorithms to learn from several social groups of the human population. According to Norori et …show more content…
Tiffany Johnson states, "Others have suggested that the association of patient-level sociodemographics with postoperative mortality is related to system-level factors, including access to care, location of care, and institution type. This highlights the important intersection of structural racism and social determinants of health with healthcare inequities." The mortality of social inequities is likely to be caused by a lack of access to healthcare. As said earlier, bias in healthcare can also lead people to lose trust in healthcare providers which can ultimately lead patients to seek alternative methods of treating themselves. Conclusion In conclusion, bias is an issue that needs to be looked at closely, especially when it comes to the possibility of it being present in the healthcare field. Bias in the healthcare industry are a rising issue as the use of more and more AI programs are being integrated to help speed the process of coming up with diagnoses and treatment
The disparities in the healthcare system contribute to the overall health status disparities that affect ethnic and racial minorities. The sources of ethnic and racial healthcare disparities include cultural barriers, geography differences, or healthcare provider stereotyping. In addition, difficulties in communication between health care providers and patients, lack of access to healthcare providers, and lack of access to adequate health care coverage
Health disparity is one of the burdens that contributes to our healthcare system in providing equal healthcare to everyone regarding of race, age, race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status to achieve good health. Research reveals that racial and ethnic minorities are likely to receive lower quality of healthcare services than white Americans.
Racial disparities in The United States health care system are widespread and well documented. Social and economic inequalities between racial minorities and their white counter parts have lead to lower life expectancy rates, higher infant mortality rates, and overall poorer health for people of color. As the nation’s population continues to become increasingly diverse, these disparities are likely to grow if left unaddressed. The Affordable Care Act includes various provisions that specifically aim to reduce inequalities for racially and ethnically marginalized groups. These include provisions in the Senate bill and House bill that aim to expand coverage, boost outreach and education programs, establish standards for culturally and linguistically appropriate practices, and diversify the health care workforce. The ACA, while not a perfect solution for eliminating health disparities, serves as an important first step and an unprecedented opportunity to improve health equity in the United States.
There has been a rapid growth in minorities in the U.S. particularly the Hispanic/ Latino community. Bureau of Health Professions (2013) studies have shown that with the rapid increase of this culture, Hispanics are not being adequately understood by medical professionals because of underrepresentation within the medical field. The after effects of underrepresentation have caused healthcare issues among this population. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2006) there has been a correlation between patient satisfaction and medical professionals of the same culture.
Healthcare disparities are when there are inequalities or differences of the conditions of health and the quality of care that is received among specific groups of people such as African Americans, Caucasians, Asians, or Hispanics. Not only does it occur between racial and ethnic groups, health disparities can happen between males and females as well. Minorities have the worst healthcare outcomes, higher death rates, and are more prone to terminal diseases. For African American men and women, some of the most common health disparities are diabetes, cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and HIV infections. Some factors that can contribute to disparities are healthcare access, transportation, specialist referrals, and non-effective communication with patients. There is also much racism that still occurs today, which can be another reason African Americans may be mistreated with their healthcare. “Although both black and white patients tended not to endorse the existence of racism in the medical system, African Americans patients were more likely to perceive racism” (Laveist, Nickerson, Bowie, 2000). Over the years, the health care system has made improvements but some Americans, such as African Americans, are still being treating unequally when wanting the same care they desire as everyone else.
A health disparity is a term used to show that there are inequalities that occur in the healthcare system. Race, sex, age, disability, and socioeconomic status can all attribute to a person 's health outcome. According to Healthy People 2020, health disparity is defined as “a particular type of health difference that is closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage. Health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater obstacles to health based on their racial or ethnic group; religion; socioeconomic status; gender; age; mental health; cognitive, sensory, or physical disability; sexual orientation or gender identity; geographic location; or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion.” In the United States, many ethnic minorities experience the effects of health disparities. African American, Asian American, Latinos, and Native Americans have a higher occurrence of poor health outcomes compared to the white population. Some examples of health disparities include: African American men, for instance, are more likely to die from cancer than white men. White women are more likely to develop breast cancer than African-American women. African-American men are more likely than white men to develop prostate
Culture as described by Brislin [1], as the totality of learned behaviors of people that emerges from their interpersonal interactions.
Health disparity is one of the major concerns in the provision of quality care and access to healthcare which directly the life expectancy of the nation as about ethnicity and race. However, describing the health outcomes or status of an ethnic group in the population would help in a better evaluation of the disparities that occur within minority groups in our society. “Racial/ethnic disparities in health and quality of and access to health care are a well-documented and persistent problem. Across many indicators of health, access to care, and health care quality, racial/ethnic minorities fare worse than whites, and each population faces specific challenges”(James et al., 2017, p. 1).
The goal within the United States government is to treat each individual as an equal citizen. Unfortunately, through the inadequate practice of public policies people have been treated unequal because of natural conditions and the countries social environment. In health policy, the two concepts that cause unequal treatment are health disparities and health differences. Health disparities are resulted from social factors that are avoidable and unjust. For example, saying ovarian cancer death rates are higher because men have better research on prostate cancer (Smith, 2016). “The extent and nature of health disparities changes over the life course” (Adler, 2008, p. 241). Health differences are inherently biological being completely natural and
In recent discussions of health care disparities, a controversial issue has been whether racism is the cause of health care disparities or not. On one hand, some argue that racism is a serious problem in the health care system. From this perspective, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) states that there is a big gap between the health care quality received by minorities, and the quality of health care received by non-minorities, and the reason is due to racism. On the other hand, however, others argue that health care disparities are not due to racism. In the words of Sally Satel, one of this view’s main proponents, “White and black patients, on average don’t even visit the same population of physicians” (Satel 1), hence this reduces the chances of racism being the cause of health care disparities. According to this view, racism is not a serious problem in the health care system. In sum, then, the issue is whether racism is a major cause of health care disparities as the Institute of Medicine argues or racism is not really an issue in the health care system as suggested by Sally Satel.
In most societies there are variations in the levels of wealth, material possession, power, and authority amongst individuals. These variables are usually related to one’s occupation, race and the diversity of access to things like education and health care. All of these resources impact individual status in society, and take part in classifying people into social classes. Precise social class is difficult to identify, as it consists of two fundamental aspects. The objective aspect pertains to one’s occupation, race, age, and other solid facts; meanwhile the subjective aspect portrays one’s values, behaviorisms, and his/her way of life.
The purpose of this essay is to firstly give an overview of the existence of inequalities of health related to ethnicity, by providing some evidence that ethnic inequality in health is a reality in the society and include definitions of keywords. Secondly, I will bring forward arguments for and against on the major sociological explanations (racial discrimination, arefact, access to and quality of care) for the existence of health inequalities related to ethnicity. Thirdly, I would also like to take the knowledge learnt for this topic and brief outline how this may help me in future nursing practice.
Recently, significant attention has focused on racial disparities in health care and health status in the medical community. Epidemiology and risk distribution are important for a wholesome medical education, and risk distribution by race can inform a clinician's diagnosis. However, when health care professionals identify race as a risk factor for certain diseases, that information may be disingenuous if the authors misperceive race with income, education, or behavior. In other words, many other factors besides race affect disease prediction, and are, in some cases, stronger predictors of disease and disease outcomes. In a study done by Sheets et al., evaluating the “validity of attributing race as a risk factor in a widely used pathology book…
Seeking to position lower socioeconomic status above racial/ethnic biases or vice versa is irresponsible to the goal of eliminating healthcare delivery differences at large. Both these are realities of a group of people who are not receiving the same level of care from the healthcare professionals although they exist within one of the most resource rich countries in the world, the United States. According to House & Williams (2000), “racism restricts and truncates socioeconomic attainment” (page, 106). This alone will hinder good health and spur on disparities as racism reduces the level of education and income as well as the prospect of better jobs. Blacksher (2008) cites the nation’s institutionalized racism as one of the leading factors
Step 1: Topic 1; Significant concerns confronting Australian society are the inequities in health between socioeconomic (SES) groups which result in lower SES groups having significantly higher rates of morbidity and mortality at an earlier age. Follow table 1 to apply the SI template to analyse the construction of this problem for a disadvantaged group in Australia and reflect on the social model of health to reduce these inequities.