Question

Health care staff represent a diversity of groups…racial, national orientation, native language, sexual orientation, age…and many others. What are some of the microaggression, microinsults, and microassaults that health care workers may receive from the patients they serve.

What impact does this have on their ability to connect with patients and provide the best care?

Answer 1

Microaggressions are brief and subtle verbal and/or non-verbal denigrating messages directed towards ethnic and/or racial minorities that carry the weight of the offending party’s implicit bias, often below their own conscious awareness. Eg: Harsh talks on anyone's race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, in a joking way.

Microassaults are explicit physical, verbal, or non-verbal acts of racism or discrimination that communicate that the targeted party is of lesser worth. Eg: using a derogatory term to refer to a person of color would be a microassault.

Microinsults are messages that are insensitive and disparaging to a person’s racial identity or background, such as implying that a racial minority did not earn their position. Eg: A comment implying that a woman or person of color received their job due to affirmative action.

What impact does this have on their ability to connect with patients and provide the best care?

These are barriers of health care service and they affect the mental health and well-being in the workplace. Experiencing microaggressions, microassaults and micro insults can lead to frustration, self-doubt, and lower mental health. The people with such experience usually report higher levels of depression and lower levels of positive emotions.

The health care provider may get frustrated and may not completely explain or provide sufficient data. The patient may feel less supported and fail to follow-up on recommended treatments.