Date of Award
Spring 2023
Document Type
Project – Full Written
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
Committee Chair
Yvonne Smith
Abstract
Introduction: Disparities in healthcare have long been a challenge for physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, and other interdisciplinary team members. More recently, population health-focused efforts have been implemented to manage everincreasing rates of diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, as well as lack of transportation, limited access to care, and poverty (North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services [NCDHHS], 2019). Racism, sexism, ageism, sizeism, etc., are present in the healthcare setting and manifests in implicit bias during care delivery. This can manifest as beliefs, behaviors/practices, and emotions of the provider (Paradies et al., 2014). Research is limited related to the impact of the use of training targeted at advanced practice nurses recognizing implicit bias, its impact on clinical decision-making, and its relationship to disparities in healthcare. This Quality Improvement Project evaluates if advanced practice registered nursing (APRN) students in the project setting demonstrate an increased understanding of implicit bias, its effect on healthcare disparities, and its impact on clinical decision-making after participating in targeted anti-bias education and training.
Methods: The Project utilized a virtual video platform with participant access being an independent study process. The project utilized is a quantitative 10-question Likert-scale survey upon completion of the Education Module. There were 68 APRN students who received the Education Module link with a Qualtrics survey. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics.
Results: Data analysis of responses indicated participants agreement/strong agreement related to gains in understanding of microaggressions, identifying areas for practice 4 improvement, recognizing a need for more APRN training related to implicit bias and healthcare disparities, and improved understanding of the impact on patient-providertrust.
Conclusions: It appears targeted education about implicit bias and healthcare disparities related to clinical decision-making can improve APRNS’s understanding and potentially impact provider practice. Most participants indicated improved knowledge in these areas. Areas where there were lower scores involved questions related to personal insight and reflection. Due to the small size of the study, results are not generalizable to the APRN population. Further research is needed into the area for future knowledge and practice change.
Recommended Citation
Lepley-Starr, Marla, "Advanced Practice Registered Nurses and Healthcare Disparities: Understanding the Impact of Implicit Bias" (2023). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 78.
https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/nursing-dnp/78
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