Background:Unconscious biases are beliefs, attitudes and stereotypes that can affect our understanding and decisions in a way that we're not aware of. If steps aren't taken to avoid acting on such biases, it can lead to unfair treatments and discriminatory practices (General Medical Council).At the Hull York Medical School, we are committed to ensuring an inclusive environment and developing a culture of cultural competence which includes raising awareness of unconscious bias. We are fortunate to have a large pool of highly trained Simulated Patients (SPs) who can both simulate patient scenarios and deliver specific, descriptive and non-judgmental feedback in teaching sessions across all five years of the curriculum. Since the arrival of the covid pandemic, Simulated Patients have played a crucial role in the delivery of teaching and assessments across all five years of our MBBS programme. We are aware that, despite ongoing efforts, our Simulated Patient pool is less diverse than both our student and staff cohorts. This workshop is part of a wider school commitment to raise awareness of the impact of Unconscious Bias on our interactions with students, patients and staff. This training was informed by the adaptation of Bennett’s intercultural competency model1 by Teal et al2
