Not All Work Is Seen: Recognition Bias in Emergency Medicine

Emergency medicine demands an elevated level of teamwork due to complex compositions of the clinical team with varying members. One of the most relied on members of the team are resident physicians. Resident physicians put in many hours and can be over-tasked with ensuring all patients are seen and all aspects of patient care are completed. But during training, not all of that work is seen or valued equally, even when the effort is the same. Resident physicians take on a large range of essential tasks- from procedures to coordinating with nurses, etc. We spend hours coordinating with nurses, supporting families during their hardest moments, and quietly managing the flow of the entire department. However, recognition for this work is frequently shaped more by subjective perceptions than by demonstrable competence. This talk explores recognition bias in emergency medicine and how visibility and social expectations shape who we decide to call a "team player." Research from medical education and psychology has demonstrated that perception can rely on gender and implicit bias regarding expectations of that gender. Translated to patient care, this can mean that men will be praised for showing behaviors not implicitly linked to male behavior. While women showing those same behaviors are given no credit as they may be expected behaviors based on gender bias. When recognition is not equal, disparity can have profound effects on self-perception and growth. These patterns help explain why imposter syndrome is so common in residency. Rather than reflecting a lack of ability, it is often a natural response to inconsistent feedback. When your work goes unnamed, it becomes easy to question your own competence despite meeting every training standard. In five minutes, this IGNITE talk will combine data and shared experiences to challenge how we interpret merit in our field. The goal is to finally make invisible work visible and to encourage a more intentional way of recognizing the labor that truly sustains our teams