Click on the question to reveal the answer.
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“Health inequities manifest as disproportionate risk, incidence, morbidity, or mortality.” (Doubeni et al., 2021). For example, “Black adults are more likely than White adults to report certain negative health care experiences, such as a provider not believing them and refusing them a test, treatment, or pain medication they thought they needed.”
(Ndugga & Artiga 2021)
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Microaggressions can cause psychological damage, including anxiety and depression because they:
- Can be easily explained away or dismissed. The person raising the concern gets labeled as “hypersensitive.”
- Have a cumulative effect. Like getting stung every day by mosquitos, once might be tolerable, but daily occurrences can impact the recipient’s quality of life.
- Are perpetrated by many different people, therefore exhausting for the recipient to address every time.
- Are committed by someone who is often not conscious of the fact.
(Oluo, 2019, p. 169-170)
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Some examples of microaggressions you might observe are:
- A transgender patient being referred to by the incorrect pronouns or name.
- An Asian-American learner being asked where they are really from.
- A female is asked to take notes in a meeting with male peers.
- A nurse calls security when a Black patient is upset about his wait time.
(Miller & Peck, 2020)
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To be a true ally, you should:
- Lift others up by advocating,
- Share growth opportunities with others,
- Not view venting as a personal attack,
- Recognize systematic inequalities and realize impact of micro-aggressions,
- Believe underrepresented people’s experiences, and
- Most importantly – listen, support, self-reflect & change.
(Atcheson, 2021)
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Adamakos F. (2021). What are gender micro- and macroaggressions in medicine and what are the solutions?. AEM education and training, 5(4), e10615. https://doi.org/10.1002/aet2.10615
Atcheson, S. (2021, December 10). Allyship - the key to unlocking the power of diversity. Forbes. Retrieved May 30, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/shereeatcheson/2018/11/30/allyship-the-key…;Cook Ross. (2022, April 29). Be an ally. Retrieved May 29, 2022, from https://cookross.com/allyship/
Doubeni, C. A., Simon, M., & Krist, A. H. (2021). Addressing Systemic Racism Through Clinical Preventive Service Recommendations From the US Preventive Services Task Force. JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, 325(7), 627–628. https://doi-org.proxy.library.vanderbilt.edu/10.1001/jama.2020.26188
Marcelin, J. R., Siraj, D. S., Victor, R., Kotadia, S., & Maldonado, Y. A. (2019). The Impact of Unconscious Bias in Healthcare: How to Recognize and Mitigate It. The Journal of infectious diseases, 220(220 Suppl 2), S62–S73. https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiz214
Miller, & Peck, B. M. (2020). A Prospective Examination of Racial Microaggressions in the Medical Encounter. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities., 7(3), 519–527. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-019-00680-y
Ndugga N & Artiga S. (2021, May 12). Disparities in health and health care: 5 key questions and answers. KFF. Retrieved May 30, 2022, from https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/dispari…;
Oluo, I. (2019). What are microaggressions?. In So you want to talk about race (pp. 162–178). chapter, Seal Press.
Sevelius, J. M., Gutierrez-Mock, L., Zamudio-Haas, S., McCree, B., Ngo, A., Jackson, A., Clynes, C., Venegas, L., Salinas, A., Herrera, C., Stein, E., Operario, D., & Gamarel, K. (2020). Research with Marginalized Communities: Challenges to Continuity During the COVID-19 Pandemic. AIDS & Behavior, 24(7), 2009–2012. https://doi-org.proxy.library.vanderbilt.edu/10.1007/s10461-020-02920-3
Tan, T. Q. (2019). Principles of Inclusion, Diversity, Access, and Equity. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 220, S30–S32. https://doi-org.proxy.library.vanderbilt.edu/10.1093/infdis/jiz198
