Evaluation of a Virtual Health Equity Training for Mid-Career Primary Healthcare Providers

Abstract

OBJECTIVES Providing cultural competence training is recommended as a way to improve patient-centered care and reduce health disparities. Increasing awareness of implicit biases and understanding internal motivations for overcoming these biases can influence provider decisions and communications with patients. This study aims to provide a health equity and implicit bias training to healthcare providers and assess knowledge and attitude gains. METHODS Mid-career primary healthcare providers (n = 21) with at least 5 years of primary care experience participated in the training as a prerequisite for providing patient care in a telehealth primary care practice that overwhelmingly serves patients of color. RESULTS There was a significant increase in knowledge ( p < .001) as well as attitudes ( p < .001) in healthcare providers from pretest to posttest. Almost none (4.5%) of the providers were distracted during the training, which may be due to the interactive nature of the training that included group-based reflection discussions. CONCLUSION A virtual training for primary healthcare providers on health equity and implicit bias improved knowledge and equitable attitudes and had high satisfaction. Additional research is needed to determine if this type of training can influence providers’ ability to actively address known disparities in care.