Objective: While frank discrimination is not common in medicine, microaggressions are prevalent in the healthcare environment. Physicians, whether trainees or faculty, often do not respond to microaggressions for multiple reasons, including fear of recrimination, shock, and lack of knowledge about how to respond. These experiences negatively impact physician wellness and contribute to burnout.
Methods: In this interactive workshop, we will briefly review the definition of microaggressions and their impact on physicians. We will provide a toolkit for all participants that reviews different strategies for responding to microaggressions. We will review the 15 types of responses to microaggressions (such as buying time, interrupting, reflecting back) and provide examples of each. We will spend the remainder of the workshop utilizing the toolkit and practicing the responses in a variety of scenarios in small groups.
Results: The participants will be divided into groups to discuss the cases and practice responding to them. The first set of cases will allow participants to discuss the event, identify the microaggression(s), and prepare a response. The second set of cases will be “lightning rounds,” with very brief prompts requiring an immediate response from participants. The goal is to have participants practice responding to microaggressions in a safe environment.
Conclusion/ Discussion: Participants will have the opportunity to analyze their responses and determine what worked well; they will discuss their comfort or discomfort with these strategies in their groups and commit to using strategies to combat microaggressions in the future.
Topics: Faculty Development Seminar, 2022, Student, Resident, Faculty, Clerkship Director, Osteopathic Faculty, Residency Director, Professionalism, Interpersonal & Communication Skills, GME, UME, Advocacy,
Huma Farid, MD; Cricket Fisher, MD, MPhil; Daniele Olveczky, MD, MS
