KU News Release

Diversity consultant to speak at Edwards Campus symposium on bias in health care

Thomas A. Gordon

OVERLAND PARK — Health care professionals regularly face cultural, social and linguistic differences in the workplace. Thomas A. Gordon, a nationally known diversity consultant, says a caregiver’s bias, whether intentional or subconscious, can affect clinical care and patient outcomes.

Gordon will address the issues of bias and prejudice in health care during “Shedding the Virus of Bias and Prejudice — A Practitioner’s Guide to Renewed Caring,” a symposium Sept 14 at the University of Kansas’ Edwards Campus in Overland Park. Sponsored by KU HealthPartners Inc. and the KU School of Nursing, it is part of the KU Medical Center’s Deep Discovery Series on the universal challenges faced by health care professionals who influence quality health care delivery and systems improvement.

Gordon, founder and principal of TAGA Consulting in Philadelphia, embraces cross-cultural travel and exchange, speaks Spanish and Swahili, and has presented leadership and diversity seminars to Fortune 500 and health care enterprises.

Michael Bleich, associate dean of nursing at KU, said the symposium is part of a national movement to provide culturally competent care tailored to meet individual patients’ needs and therefore improve outcomes and eliminate disparities in health care. It involves providing health care professionals with the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to offer quality clinical care to patients from different cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds, he said.

The symposium will challenge attendees to understand culturally competent care and the impediments created by bias in the workplace, Bleich said.

“Having known Dr. Gordon through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted to improving the health and health care of all Americans, we are excited to have him share his insights,” Bleich said. “He will engage his audience and help individuals connect their human experiences with others, a critical skill when you consider the diversity of health care workers and those seeking our care. The symposium is designed for a large and diverse audience of health care professionals on diversity issues. Participants can expect to leave the day with renewed awareness of our potential as health care practitioners to care and serve.”

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