The State Division of Consumer Affairs published draft rules this week to require physicians, nurses and midwives who provide perinatal care to women to undergo bias training aimed at rooting out prejudices and stereotypes that impact maternal health.
With the publishing of the draft rule on Tuesday in the New Jersey Register, the proposal now undergoes a 60-day public comment period that closes on Sept. 13. A similar rule affecting physician assistants was published on June 17 in the New Jersey Register and the public comment period for that rule closes on Aug. 16.
Licensees of the State Board of Medical Examiners and the New Jersey Board of Nursing are already required to complete continuing education credit hours as a condition of biennial licensure. Under new rules proposed by both boards, licensees who provide perinatal treatment and care to pregnant persons would be required to complete one of those training hours in programs or topics concerning explicit and implicit bias.
Health Commissioner Kaitlan Baston, M.D. said systemic racism and implicit bias have contributed to a long history of racial and ethnic disparities in preventable pregnancy-related deaths.
“Requiring implicit and explicit bias training is another step in the right direction to help close the gap in maternal healthcare quality and to ensure safe and equitable maternal outcomes …” Bason said.
The proposed rules address a key recommendation in the Nurture NJ Maternal and Infant Health Strategic Plan, which calls for the state to institute continuing education requirements for licensed health professionals on implicit bias.
The proposed rules set forth the topics that the continuing education course must cover, including:
- identifying previous and current unconscious biases and misinformation when providing perinatal treatment and care to, or interacting with, pregnant persons;
- identifying environmental, personal, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural barriers to inclusion;
- information on the effects of historical and contemporary exclusion and oppression of minority communities;
- information about cultural identity across racial, ethnic, and other marginalized groups;
- information about communicating more effectively across racial, ethnic, religious, and gender identities;
- information about reproductive justice;
- a discussion on power dynamics and organizational decision-making and their effects on explicit and implicit bias;
- a discussion on inequities and racial, ethnic, and other disparities within the field of perinatal care, and how explicit and implicit bias may contribute to pregnancy-related deaths and maternal and infant health outcomes;
- corrective measures to decrease explicit and implicit bias at the interpersonal and institutional levels; and
- review of the annual report of the New Jersey Maternal Mortality Review Committee.
After the close of the public comment period, a summary of the public comments and the Boards’ responses to them will be published in a Notice of Adoption expected in 2025. Upon publication of the Notice of Adoption, the final rules take effect in 90 days.
To view the proposed rules and obtain information on how to submit a comment go to:
- For Physician Assistants – 56 N.J.R. 1067(a)
- For Physicians – 56 N.J.R. 1230(a)
- For Nurses – 56 N.J.R. 1231(a)
- For Midwives – 56 N.J.R. 1228(b)
