How well does state-regulated Compulsory Implicit Bias Training serve practicing Healthcare Professionals?

The answer to this question is debatable in the mind of this writer and many other observers regardless of how well-intentioned the proponents of this workforce movement see this. Obviously, this concept and/or idea have gained traction in the minds and views of those seeking ethical & societal reparations for all the past aggrieved parties. I would admit & be the first one to say that we as a society have woefully fallen short of establishing accountable and equitable transparency in this regard not only for decades but centuries as well and for a host of a lot of reasons.

But frankly, as imperfect the world and our country have been, can be, and will be, we must realize that Tokenism & Presentism can not atone for our past transgressions. Let’s not be naive and delude ourselves about this reality. Let me explain, while I am not advocating for moral collective social inertia or collective denial, I think (feel & believe) most healthcare providers don't provide professional care services from this space. This is not to say there aren’t any “bad apples” in our community or the world, because, the truth is they will always be those folks amongst us…like the poor as Jesus said to his apostles when Mary Magdalene was openly chastised by the Apostles when they felt the spent perfume used to wash his feet was a waste of money in their eyes.

My main point of contention is not that I am flat-out objecting to this practice in raising national or industry awareness to the forefront of our flawed transactional dealings but rather eliminating over-regulating the practice of medicine under some ideological pretense. In other words, eliminate these legislating virtue-signaling governmental practices disguised under Public Health codes by law as seen in 4 states since 2019. 

But more importantly, keep in mind that creating equitable healthcare outcomes for the patient community is inherently our calling. That's exactly how we, the PA community whether consciously or unconsciously have met our patients' needs for half a century. Simply stated, it is in our professional DNA. not to mention, why would we sacrifice & give so much of ourselves, our families, etc. to make a living in a very well-known “thankless stressful industry”? 

 Moreover, there’s minimal scientific evidence showing these desirable training courses enhance healthcare outcomes. However, at a closer look, they will ultimately line up corporate executives' pocketbooks–no surprise there (right)? This unilateral alignment is nothing more than political identity rationalizations that are flawed given the push for adding another partisan metric into the equation. 

Basically, we can do without this monetary infringement for which the healthcare ecosystem would not be any worse given the lack of hard and/or robust evidence of implicit bias training implementation improving transactional medical patient-provider outcomes. I call for all providers to measure their blind endorsement of Implicit Bias, by being grounded and putting things in perspective by examining more closely Tokenism & Presentism as the other side of the coin.