Addressing microaggressions with simulation: a novel educational intervention

There is an urgent need for education around equity, diversity, inclusivity, indigeneity, and accessibility (EDIIA). One important facet of this is gender-related microaggressions, which are a common occurrence in the emergency department. Most emergency medicine residents receive few opportunities to discuss, understand, and approach these occurrences in the clinical setting. To address this, we created a novel immersive session exploring gender-based microaggressions through a simulation experience followed by reflective teaching to foster allyship and practice tools for responding to microaggressions. An anonymous survey was subsequently distributed to elicit feedback, which was positive. After this successful pilot, next steps include creating sessions to address other microaggressions. Limitations include implicit biases of facilitators and ensuring that facilitators can engage in brave spaces and open conversations. Others trying to integrate gendered microaggression training into their EDIIA curricula could model our innovation.