Logo

Log In Sign Up |  An official publication of: American College of Emergency Physicians
Navigation
  • Home
  • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
  • Clinical
    • Airway Managment
    • Case Reports
    • Critical Care
    • Guidelines
    • Imaging & Ultrasound
    • Pain & Palliative Care
    • Pediatrics
    • Resuscitation
    • Trauma & Injury
  • Resource Centers
    • mTBI Resource Center
  • Career
    • Practice Management
      • Benchmarking
      • Reimbursement & Coding
      • Care Team
      • Legal
      • Operations
      • Quality & Safety
    • Awards
    • Certification
    • Compensation
    • Early Career
    • Education
    • Leadership
    • Profiles
    • Retirement
    • Work-Life Balance
  • Columns
    • ACEP4U
    • Airway
    • Benchmarking
    • Brief19
    • By the Numbers
    • Coding Wizard
    • EM Cases
    • End of the Rainbow
    • Equity Equation
    • FACEPs in the Crowd
    • Forensic Facts
    • From the College
    • Images in EM
    • Kids Korner
    • Medicolegal Mind
    • Opinion
      • Break Room
      • New Spin
      • Pro-Con
    • Pearls From EM Literature
    • Policy Rx
    • Practice Changers
    • Problem Solvers
    • Residency Spotlight
    • Resident Voice
    • Skeptics’ Guide to Emergency Medicine
    • Sound Advice
    • Special OPs
    • Toxicology Q&A
    • WorldTravelERs
  • Resources
    • ACEP.org
    • ACEP Knowledge Quiz
    • Issue Archives
    • CME Now
    • Annual Scientific Assembly
      • ACEP14
      • ACEP15
      • ACEP16
      • ACEP17
      • ACEP18
      • ACEP19
    • Annals of Emergency Medicine
    • JACEP Open
    • Emergency Medicine Foundation
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Medical Editor in Chief
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Awards
    • Authors
    • Article Submission
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright Information

Interphysician Weight Bias in the House of Medicine

By Ken Milne, MD | on November 23, 2021 | 0 Comment
Skeptics' Guide to EM
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
Print-Friendly Version

Results

The survey was completed by 620 people. The mean age was 44 years, 58 percent identified as female, the mean body mass index was 26, 73 percent were Caucasian, 78 percent were emergency physicians, and 72 percent were attending physicians.

You Might Also Like
  • How Does Bias Affect Physicians, Patients?
  • Don’t Let Bias Affect How You Treat Your Patients
  • To Combat Potential Implicit Bias in EMS, Diversify the Workforce
Explore This Issue
ACEP Now: Vol 40 – No 11 – November 2021

Key Result: A high percentage of participants indicated IWB against other physicians, while other results suggested some EWB and PWB do exist.

  • Implicit Weight Bias:
    • Eighty-seven percent of participants had a D-score above 0, indicating IWB against other physicians.
    • Male sex and increased age were both positively correlated with anti-fat weight bias.
  • Explicit Weight Bias and Professional Weight Bias:
    • Ranges and means on the rating scales showed levels of variability, but overall suggested bias does exist.
    • Male sex positively correlated with both EWB and PWB.

Evidence-Based Medicine Commentary

  1. Low r Values: The r value represents strength of correlations and ranges from (-1) to (+1), with 0 representing no association, (-1) representing maximal negative association, and (+1) representing maximal positive association. Correlations do not address causality between two things. Some of the r values for correlation in this study were low (0.24, 0.16, and 0.73). However, small correlations are in line with previous literature on the topic.7–9
  2. Respondent Bias: Any survey literature is limited by respondent bias—when respondents know what they are being asked about, this may influence the honesty and accuracy of their answers. It would have been apparent to the physicians being surveyed that the study was about weight bias. Physicians are typically motivated and trained to control expression of their biases. This could have underestimated the amount of bias in this cohort. 
  3. Externally Unvalidated Tool: The PWB scale was developed by this research group for this study. It was tested on emergency physicians and residents in the United States and Canada. We need to be cautious not to overinterpret the results until this tool has been externally validated with emergency physicians in other countries.

Bottom Line

Implicit, explicit, and professional biases exist in emergency physicians. Recognizing these biases can be a potential step to help mitigate the negative impact these biases may have on interprofessional relationships.

Case Resolution

You decide to speak truth to power and acknowledge that everyone has some biases. This specific comment about a candidate being overweight could suggest a possible interprofessional weight bias. You recommend to the other committee members that the weight of the candidate should not be part of the decision whether to promote the physician to a leadership position.

Thank you to Dr. Corey Heitz, an emergency physician in Roanoke, Virginia, for his help with this review.

Remember to be skeptical of anything you learn, even if you heard it on the Skeptics’ Guide to Emergency Medicine. Plus-circle

Pages: 1 2 3 | Single Page

Topics: BiascareerDiscrimination

Related

  • Aerospace Medicine Residency Program Pushes the Envelope

    June 25, 2025 - 1 Comment
  • ACEP4U: Ramping Up Residency Outreach

    May 8, 2025 - 0 Comment
  • UCSF Resident Lives the Dream On “Survivor” Season 47

    May 8, 2025 - 0 Comment

Current Issue

ACEP Now: July 2025

Download PDF

Read More

About the Author

Ken Milne, MD

Ken Milne, MD, is chief of emergency medicine and chief of staff at South Huron Hospital, Ontario, Canada. He is on the Best Evidence in Emergency Medicine faculty and is creator of the knowledge translation project the Skeptics Guide to Emergency Medicine.

View this author's posts »

No Responses to “Interphysician Weight Bias in the House of Medicine”

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


*
*

Careers Center
  • Emergency Medicine Physician needed at prestigious health system in Lancaster, PA

    Penn State Health is seeking an experienced BC/BE Emergency Medicine physician to join our growing team in scenic, suburban, Lancaster PA.

    Lancaster, Pennsylvania

    Competitive salary & benefits at prestigious Pennsylvania health system

    Penn State Health

    Read More
  • Academic Emergency Medicine Physician

    Penn State Health is seeking an exceptional BC/BE Emergency physician to join our esteemed faculty located in scenic suburban Hershey, PA.

    Hershey, Pennsylvania

    Competitive salary + Benefits

    Penn State Health

    Read More
  • Director, Undergraduate Medical Education

    Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center seeks a BC/BE Emergency Medicine Physician to serve as Director, Undergraduate Medical Education.

    Hershey, Pennsylvania

    Competitive salary & benefits at prestigious Pennsylvania health system

    Penn State Health

    Read More
More Jobs
Wiley
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Advertise
  • Cookie Preferences
Copyright © 2025 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial technologies or similar technologies. ISSN 2333-2603