From the Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery, Albany Medical Center; and the Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery, Montefiore Medical Center.
Plast Reconstr Surg. 2021 Jun 1;147(6):948e-956e. doi: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000008171.
Implicit bias is the unconscious associations and beliefs held toward specific demographic groups. Instagram is commonly used by plastic surgeons to market their practice. This study investigates whether a surgeon's name on a social media platform influences perception of their competence and their likelihood of gaining a new patient.
A mock Instagram post was created using before-and-after photographs of a breast augmentation patient. Eight different ethnicities were selected, and common female and male names were selected based on U.S. Census data for each ethnicity. Surveys using the Instagram post were distributed asking responders to evaluate the competency of the surgeon and how likely they are to become a patient of that plastic surgeon. The surgeon's name was the only variable in the survey.
A total of 2965 survey responses were analyzed. The majority of responders were Caucasian (57 percent); 55 percent were men and 45 percent were women. Overall, competence and recruitment likelihood scores between surgeons of different ethnicities were not significantly different. Caucasian and Latinx responders both assigned higher competence and recruitment likelihood scores to their own respective ethnicities.
Implicit bias plays a role in whether or not a patient is likely to seek care from a surgeon with an ethnically identifiable name. The two most common cosmetic surgery demographic groups, Caucasians and Latinxs, were also the only two ethnic groups to display in-group favoritism. Public education should be directed toward surgeon qualifications and experience in an effort to reduce implicit bias on patient decision-making.
内隐偏见是指对特定人群的无意识联想和信念。Instagram 通常被整形外科医生用于推广他们的业务。本研究调查了社交媒体平台上外科医生的名字是否会影响人们对其能力的看法以及他们获得新患者的可能性。
使用一名乳房增大患者的前后对比照片创建了一个模拟 Instagram 帖子。选择了八种不同的种族，并根据美国人口普查数据为每个种族选择了常见的女性和男性名字。使用 Instagram 帖子分发了调查，要求受访者评估外科医生的能力以及他们成为该整形外科医生患者的可能性。调查中唯一的变量是外科医生的名字。
共分析了 2965 份调查回复。大多数回复者为白人（57%）；55%为男性，45%为女性。总体而言，不同种族的外科医生之间的能力和招募可能性评分没有显著差异。白人和拉丁裔受访者都对自己的种族赋予了更高的能力和招募可能性评分。
内隐偏见在患者是否可能寻求具有种族特征名字的外科医生的治疗方面发挥了作用。最常见的两种美容手术人群，白人和拉丁裔，也是仅有的两个表现出群体偏好的种族群体。应针对外科医生的资格和经验进行公众教育，以减少患者决策中的内隐偏见。
