Table 1 Literature concerning implicit bias and clinical decision making

Clinical Qualities

Amoli et al. 2016 [20]

Survey

N = 503

Pediatric Orthopedics

Changes in demographic make-up of pediatric orthopedics indicate higher hiring rate for females.

Hemphill et al. 2020 [34]

Perspective

n/a

Medical Education

Physicians may acquire gender-based implicit biases through educational and formative experiences.

Ferguson et al. 2018 [28]

Prospective validation

N = 247

Cardio−/Thoracic surgeons

Outcomes of clinical vignettes do not show implicit bias.

Furnas et al. 2018 [40]

Survey

N = 757

Plastic surgeons

Women demonstrated a higher perception of gender concordance with their patients.

Greene et al. 2018 [41]

Survey

N = 915

Clinical Preferences

Patients may have an implicit bias based solely on name when selecting a physician.

Diagnosis of Disease

Berthold et al. 2008 [42]

Cross-sectional

N = 51,053

GPs/Internists

Patients of female physicians received higher quality of care for Diabetes Mellitus Type II.

Bouck et al. 2018 [26]

Cohort

N = 2394

GPs

Male physicians order more low-value tests than female physicians.

Hamberg et al. 2004 [43]

Case Description

N = 289

Gastrointestinal Specialists

Physicians utilize different gender cues during the clinical work-up and diagnosis of gastrointestinal disease.

Bernardes et al. 2013 [44]

Between Subjects

N = 310

GPs

Physician-held stereotypes to gender may influence the diagnosis and treatment of low-back pain.

Treatment

Daugherty et al. 2017 [32]

Prospective validation

N = 503

Cardiologists

Female physicians show lower gendered implicit bias than males.

Hirsh et al. 2014 [35]

Analog Design (simulation)

N = 98

GPs

Provider sex is an influence on the selection of treatment option.

Sabin et al. 2009 [45]

Survey

N = 2535

Medical Doctors

Only Black female physicians showed no implicit bias towards male or female patients.

Schwartz et al. 2003 [46]

Survey

N = 289

Obesity experts

Female physicians were more likely to associate the word “fat” with bad, lazy, and stupid but not “worthless”.

Outcomes

Chapman et al. 2013 [5]

Perspective

n/a

Systematic review of literature

Implicit bias within physicians leads to perpetuating health care disparities.

Tsugawa et al. 2017 [27]

Retrospective Analysis

N = 1,583,028 (episodes of care)

Internists

Female internists treat elderly hospitalized patients in a manner that lowers 30-day readmission rates and decreases hospital-related death.