SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Navigating Microaggressions: Creating Allyship and Empowerment in Medical Students

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This project describes a 60-minute microaggression workshop for third-year medical students during their core medicine clerkship at Maine Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine. The goal was to help students navigate patient-initiated microaggressions, improve their ability to recognize, respond to, and debrief these events, and ultimately strengthen the clinical learning environment.<br /><br />Microaggressions are everyday verbal, nonverbal, or environmental slights that communicate hostile or dismissive messages to marginalized people. In clinical settings, they can harm learner well-being and performance. To address this, the workshop included a brief introduction to microaggressions, an algorithm and communication toolkit, a badge with suggested strategies, and role-play using real-life cases followed by debriefing.<br /><br />Seventy-nine third-year clerkship students participated during the 2021–2022 academic year and completed a survey before and after the session. Students rated their confidence on a five-point scale and also provided written feedback.<br /><br />Results suggested that focused training increased students’ self-reported confidence in recognizing, responding to, and debriefing microaggressions toward themselves and colleagues. Students especially valued the concrete strategies, the use of real examples, and the opportunity to practice responses. Narrative feedback showed that students preferred indirect approaches such as curiosity, redirection, buying time, and humor.<br /><br />Overall, the workshop was well received and appeared to improve students’ preparedness to address microaggressions. The authors note that future work should expand guidance for situations involving supervisors and examine the long-term effects of such training on learners and the clinical environment.

Asset Subtitle

Christina Tsui

Meta Tag

Author List Allison Chatalbash, Annie Liu, Christina Tsui, Eliza Bullis, Katelyn Chadwick, Laura Snydman, Nicole Hudak

Category Innovations

Concept Microaggressions

Concept Medical Student

Concept Clinical Learning Environment

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Maine Medical Center

Presenting Author Christina Tsui

Track Education

Keywords

microaggressions

medical students

workshop

clerkship

clinical learning environment

patient-initiated

communication toolkit

role-play

debriefing

learner well-being

Microaggressions

Medical Student

Clinical Learning Environment