Race and gender bias in medicine is a persistent cause of healthcare disparities. Here, we investigate the potential of a peer-network approach based on “collective intelligence” to reduce bias in medical treatment decisions.
This conversation, hosted by Guest Speaker Damon Centola, hinges around a research project which found significant disparities in treatment recommendations amongst a group of clinicians. The work found that an intervention in terms of structured peer networks showed remarkable improvement in the quality in their clinical decisions, resulting in the complete elimination of treatment disparities between patients.
It is argued that these findings offer a new generation of network interventions might be used in healthcare settings to reduce significant disparities in patient treatment.
Damon Centola is the Elihu Katz Professor of Communication, Sociology and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is Director of the Network Dynamics Group and Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics.