UW Medicine Bias Reporting Tool

View UW Medicine Bias Reporting Tool

The Bias Reporting Tool is for sharing incidents of bias including racism, sexism, ableism, discrimination of any form, or other behaviors that do not reflect the prioritization of inclusion and equity expected in all areas of our community.  

Types of Complaints / Topics Addressed

The Bias Reporting Tool (BRT) is for sharing incidents of bias of any form, including but not limited to experiences of racial bias/racism, sexism, ableism, or other actions, behaviors, or processes that do not reflect the prioritization of inclusion and equity expected in all areas of our community.

Disclaimers

Retaliation protection:
University of Washington policy prohibits retaliation against people who bring a complaint or participate in the complaint process. An employee who engages in retaliatory conduct is subject to appropriate corrective action, including dismissal. 

Exception to confidentiality:
Any information shared in emails, tools, or reports may be subject to public records requests or released under federal and state law. 

Process

What information you need to submit, what happens after

A member of the BRT team will review the report and contact you to learn more about what happened, hear how it impacted you, and discuss resources. The information you shared will be in the BRT database, to provide an overall picture of what UW students, trainees, staff and faculty are experiencing. The committee will determine what follow up options are available. Examples include asking facilities services to remove graffiti, providing support to an affected community, or providing feedback to a department or individual.  

When does reporter hear back?

1-3 Business days

Point of Contact Info

Email for questions or concerns: biasreportingtool@uw.edu.

Other Considerations

If you are looking to report a bias incident at UW that happened outside of UW Medicine, please visit the upper campus UW bias reporting tool page. 

Across the University of Washington and UW Medicine, there are several ways to report concerns about bias. Sometimes there is overlap in reports through other pathways and those that come in through the BRT. SafetyNet is a place to report all types of safety concerns, including those in which bias impacts the healthcare we deliver to our patients and families.  

 It is important to note the BRT committee is not an investigational or QI protected workgroup. This means they do not investigate reports, or the people mentioned in reports. In cases involving patient care policies, a SafetyNet is filed to begin the two usual quality improvement processes. The BRT committee partners with other groups and offices as appropriate, including Patient-Relations and Risk Management, for these types of patient care concerns.