ArticleThe journal of pain2015
The interaction of patient race, provider bias, and clinical ambiguity on pain management decisions.
Article in The journal of pain, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 83 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
83 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Implicit racial bias among medical graduates and students by an IAT measure: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Irish journal of medical science · 2022Pooled it
- Implicit bias in healthcare professionals: a systematic review.BMC medical ethics · 2017Pooled it
- Clinician-Patient Racial/Ethnic Concordance Influences Racial/Ethnic Minority Pain: Evidence from Simulated Clinical Interactions.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2020Trial
- An Innovative Electronic Health Toolkit (Our Whole Lives for Chronic Pain) to Reduce Chronic Pain in Patients With Health Disparities: Open Clinical Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Cancer Clinical Trial Participant Selection: Does Provider Implicit Bias Play a Role?Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- "You think, like, you're neutral but you're not": a mixed- methods study of racial/ethnic bias in pain assessment, management and treatment in maternal and newborn care in the Netherlands.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- The Intergroup Time Bias and Its Implications for Medical Healthcare.The Journal of social issues · 2025Article
- Inequities in Opioid Administration by Race and Ethnicity for Hospitalized Patients With and Without Substance Use Disorders.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Relationships Between Perinatal Physical Activity and Pain During Labor and Postpartum.Journal of women's health (2002) · 2025Article
- Understanding Differences in Medical Student Perceptions of Treatment Adherence Based on Weight Status in Pediatric Care.Journal of clinical psychology in medical settings · 2025Article
- Are Auditory-Perceptual Evaluations of Dysphonia by Experienced Voice Clinicians Affected by Knowledge of Speaker Race?American journal of speech-language pathology · 2025Article
- "The doctor will see you now… but not for long": Linking physicians' racial attitudes and patients' discrimination experiences to racial disparities in the duration of medical consultations.Patient education and counseling · 2025Article
- Article
- Delayed surgery among patients diagnosed with spinal disorders: Retrospective analysis.PloS one · 2025Article
- Examining the relationships among physician implicit bias, language, and Hispanic patient satisfaction.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Racialized disparities in pain and pain care among Belgian youth.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Examining our lens: how bias heightens disparities in trauma research.Trauma surgery & acute care open · 2025Review
- Healthcare providers' psychological investment in clinical recommendations: Investigating the role of implicit racial attitudes.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2024Article
23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
unlabelledAlthough racial disparities in pain care are widely reported, much remains to be known about the role of provider and contextual factors. We used computer-simulated patients to examine the influence of patient race, provider racial bias, and clinical ambiguity on pain decisions. One hundred twenty-nine medical residents/fellows made assessment (pain intensity) and treatment (opioid and nonopioid analgesics) decisions for 12 virtual patients with acute pain. Race (black/white) and clinical ambiguity (high/low) were manipulated across vignettes. Participants completed the Implicit Association Test and feeling thermometers, which assess implicit and explicit racial biases, respectively. Individual- and group-level analyses indicated that race and ambiguity had an interactive effect on providers' decisions, such that decisions varied as a function of ambiguity for white but not for black patients. Individual differences across providers were observed for the effect of race and ambiguity on decisions; however, providers' implicit and explicit biases did not account for this variability. These data highlight the complexity of racial disparities and suggest that differences in care between white and black patients are, in part, attributable to the nature (ie, ambiguity) of the clinical scenario. The current study suggests that interventions to reduce disparities should differentially target patient, provider, and contextual factors. PERSPECTIVE: This study examined the unique and collective influence of patient race, provider racial bias, and clinical ambiguity on providers' pain management decisions. These results could inform the development of interventions aimed at reducing disparities and improving pain care.
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