How pediatric care providers are identifying and addressing the impacts of racism on children

In this issue of Transforming Care, we consider the roles of implicit bias and structural racism in creating and perpetuating racial health disparities in pediatric care. Implicit bias refers to learned stereotypes and prejudices that operate automatically and unconsciously, while structural racism takes into account the many ways societies foster racial discrimination through housing, education, employment, media, health care, criminal justice, and other systems. We focus on these factors more than on interpersonal racism, or negative feelings or prejudices that play out between individuals, because while the latter is important, the former are more likely to be undetected or unacknowledged. Our goal is to shine a light on these problems and to point to concrete steps pediatric providers can take to address them.