A recent study published 5th August in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has confirmed an unconscious bias towards women when it comes to pain management.
The study took place in emergency departments in Israeli and US hospitals, and analysed more than 20,000 discharge notes of patients who had come in with ‘non-specific’ pain complaints with no clear underlying causes.
It found that when arriving at hospital, women were 10% less likely than men to have a recorded pain score. This is a number between one and ten provided by the patient based on how bad their pain is.
Women were also waiting on average 30 minutes longer than men to be seen by a nurse or doctor, and were less likely to receive any pain medication. The findings were consistent regardless of the gender of the nurse or doctor providing the consultation and treatments.
The study also presented 100 health care professionals with a scenario of a patient with a severe backache, along with the patient’s previous clinical information. The patient profiles were identical aside from the sex. The participants consistently gave higher pain scores to the male patient compared to the female patient, with no other variables between them.
It highlights just one aspect of the deep bias women face when grappling with healthcare systems.
One of the ten co-authors, Alex Gileles-Hillel from the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Centre, called for these findings to be highlighted during medical training, to equip doctors and nurses with a better understanding of the potential for bias when it comes to treating pain.
He also suggested a more immediate solution for computers to generate advisory alerts to prescribe painkillers when a patient has reported a high pain score, regardless of gender.
“Physicians are not aware of this bias. Raising awareness is one solution.”
Alex Gileles-Hillel
