Addressing implicit biases through reflective practice to improve cultural safety and humility- featuring Dr. Danette Dawkin

Growing up, Dr. Danette Dawkin didn’t initially see herself pursuing medicine, but after receiving a pamphlet for UBCs rural medicine program, she was inspired to apply, and is now a family physician that has provided services in many rural and Indigenous communities across the North. Implicit biases are unconscious assumptions that can affect how patients are treated based on characteristics such as race, gender, weight, drug-use, and marital status. Dr. Dawkin recently developed a reflective-practice based course to improve cultural safety in healthcare services in the Northeast community of Chetwynd, BC. She brought together an interdisciplinary, dynamic team to learn, discuss and reflect on the internal, implicit biases that we all carry, with the goal of providing care that is rooted in humility and curiosity. Dr. Dawkin shares her experiences with the uncomfortable and difficult work of confronting our own implicit biases, why this approach is so challenging, and how it can ultimately make care safer for everyone.