Immigration bias among medical students: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background and importance Racial bias is found in both physicians and medical students. Immigrants in many parts of the world face challenges similar to racial minorities. Identification of immigrants might however be more subtle than identification by race, and currently, no data are available on a possible bias against the large minority group of migrants in Europe. Design Randomized control trial. Settings and participants Second-year medical students were randomized into four groups to watch a video of either a male or female patient with pain, with or without immigrant status. Intervention Students were asked whether they would administer pain medication (primary outcome). Outcome measures and analysis Immigrant status, patient’s gender, student’s gender, age, and language skills were covariates in a logistic regression model. Secondary outcomes included pain medication potency and the student’s rating of the patient’s pain intensity. Main results We recruited 607 students [337 females (56%), 387 (64%) between 18 and 22 years old]. Analgesia was administered in 95% (n = 576). Immigrant status was not associated with the probability of receiving pain medication [95 vs. 95%, odds ratio (OR) 0.81, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.39–1.70, P = 0.58]. Immigrants received high-potency analgesia less often (26 vs. 33%, OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.50–0.96, P = 0.03). Female students administered pain medication more frequently (96 vs. 93%, OR 2.29, 95% CI 1.05–5.02, P = 0.04), and rated the patients’ pain higher (mean numeric rating scale 7.7, SD 0.9 vs. 7.4, SD 1.0, OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.16–1.60, P < 0.001). Conclusion Medical students showed no immigration bias with regard to administering pain medication but were less likely to choose high-potency analgesia in immigrants. We also found a gender difference in pain management. These results demonstrate the importance of including knowledge about immigration bias in medical training.