Diversity in EMS is a new bimonthly column featured in EMSWorld in which rotating authors will confront difficult questions of bias and discrimination in the emergency medical services and how agencies can lead change in their communities.

This is the second of a two-part series by Lorie Fridell, PhD, and Brad Keating, MPH, NRP, on implicit bias in the prehospital environment. In the August column the authors distinguished between explicit bias (e.g., racism) and implicit bias, sharing the “bad news” that we all have implicit biases despite our good intentions.

In this column the authors share the “good news,” which is that we need not be the passive victims of our human biases. There are things all of us can do to reduce and manage our biases and training programs EMT administrators can provide to their personnel. The ultimate goal of both is to reduce the likelihood that human biases will affect the important work of EMS professionals.

Read the full “Diversity in EMS: Conquering Implicit Bias in the Prehospital Environment” article here

Missed the first article?  Read the “Diversity in EMS: Recognizing Implicit Bias in the Prehospital Environment” article here