Reducing Bias and Fostering Respect for Patients as Persons: The Promise of Humanizing Medical Records

Dehumanization – characterized by a self-perpetuating cycle of de-individuation, objectification, empathy reduction, and moral disengagement – is endemic in healthcare settings. With this proposal, Dr. Beach and the research team will seek to test the compelling hypothesis that inclusion of humanizing language in electronic health records can serve as a structural adjustment directly responsive to the psychological processes underlying dehumanization. Because every patient encounter is documented in the EHR, they hope this discovery has a profound impact on reducing bias and dehumanization in healthcare.