Chapter 16: “You Can’t Be in That Much Pain”: Navigating Implicit Bias in Women’s Healthcare

Implicit bias has become an almost everyday experience for many in Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities when attempting to receive quality healthcare. Women in communities of color are oftentimes the ones that suffer the most when setting out to explore options that will best assist them in bettering their health, but racism is oftentimes the culprit preventing BIPOC patients from receiving the same high standard of care that non-BIPOC patients receive. Health literacy, self-advocacy, and good conversations with providers are all ways in which BIPOC can work with physicians and healthcare providers to build trust and protect themselves from bias. This chapter, using the frameworks of critical race theory (CRT), delves into where implicit bias comes from, how it functions and causes damage to BIPOC communities in healthcare, and provides suggestions for librarians and information professionals to work to combat and empower BIPOC communities using health literacy as a foundation.