FINAL PROJECT: Abstract and Reader's Reponse > Gender Bias in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Pain
P, perhaps this audience would benefit from a section early on defining unacknowledged bias. Then, when you describe your cases, you might conclude with the unacknowledged bias reminder.
Do any of the medical professional societies have statements on this? Check out the emergency room physicians groups.
Also, did you read about the pain charts? Here is an overview:
https://www.verywellhealth.com/pain-scales-assessment-tools-4020329
I wonder if anyone has studied whether or not pain charts help with this bias.
Can you conclude with four or five recommendations? Action items? Reading items?
May 12, 2019 |
MbS
MbS
ABSTRACT: Chronic pain is a common symptom of many diseases and and can be damaging to the quality of daily life. However, the women and men displaying the same symptoms are often treated differently in a medical setting, usually due to implicit biases that are deeply rooted in the subconscious of every human being. The majority of studies find that women tend to report more intense and more frequent pain, but have a lower tolerance for pain. A lot of research points to biological differences, like hormone circulation and structural differences (Hoffman 2001), as well as psychological differences (Samulowitz 2018). However, the experience in pain is not significantly different. Despite this fact, women are not taken seriously when it comes to pain symptoms and are often misdiagnosed and mistreated, leading to damaging consequences, like permanent disability or opioid addiction (Brea 2014). The problem only gets worse for female patients of color, who are more likely to be viewed as "drug seekers" and recieve no treatment for their symptoms (Moffett-Batteau). The prevalence of this issue has grown to such an extent that activism groups have begun speaking out, raising thousands of dollars to spread awareness of the implicit biases surrounding gender in healthcare (IASP). This issue is something that health care providers should be aware of when diagnosing and treating chronic pain in female patients.
READER'S PROFILE: A difficult audience to reach would be health care providers who do not believe they are treating their patients differently.
READER'S RESPONSE: It's interesting to see the treatment of women when it comes to chronic pain, but I don't think I would ever treat a female patient any differently than a male patient. It may be true, however, that there are underlying biases I'm not even aware of. Female patients do tend to verbalize their symptoms differently so it's possible that I diagnose or treat them differently. Maybe next time I treat a female with chronic pain symptoms, I will make it a point to listen to ALL of the evidence before I diagnose the patient as I usually would. It's something to think about.