Unconscious Bias and Its Impact on Public Health and Health-Care Systems

Abstract

The U.S. public health system has been challenged in constructive ways over the past year, from fighting a novel virus to managing the resulting pandemic, and surmounting pressure from the general public to reconcile past and present trauma fueled by health and racial inequities that claim lives and perpetuate physical, mental, and emotional harm in predominantly Black, Indigenous, and other non-white communities. Through term definitions, discussion of the current literature, and content expert opinions, this article reveals the casual yet calculated manner in which unconscious bias saturates health care and the governing public health systems in the United States, and presents a call to action for professionals in the public health field to keep racial and health equity at the forefront of solutions to the “wicked problems” faced in this field.