Helping the learner to deal with microaggressions in the workplace: Individual, programmatic, and institutional-level...

Microaggressions are frequently experienced by learners in the workplace and can create a hostile learning environment. Many faculty educators lack formal training in supporting their learners after incidents of microaggressions. Supervising faculty should be able to recognize and respond to microaggressions against trainees in the clinical environment. In this commentary, we will briefly review the definition of microaggressions, summarize the impact of microaggressions on trainees, provide a framework for managing microaggressions on an individual level when the patient offends the learner, and highlight strategies to mitigate microaggressions on a programmatic and institutional level.