As the country reacted to the death of George Floyd, officials at Boston's Children's Hospital moved to address racial bias at the hospital.
The hospital launched the Bystander-to-Upstander Inclusive Workplace Training program, according to a Sept. 2 news release. The program was originally intended for physicians and residents, but hospital leaders decided to train all of its 12,000 employees.
The program covers how to recognize and respond to microaggressions, which often come in the form of making subtle discriminative comments or jokes about people from marginalized groups. For example, not bothering to learn how to properly pronounce a person's name or assuming someone with a Latino name doesn't speak English.
"When they come from a provider, microaggressions can undermine patient trust," said Geeranan Chuersanga, program coordinator for Boston's Children's Hospital's Office of Health Equity and Inclusion.
The program workshops are 90 minutes long, and employees are presented scenarios for several clinical settings, such as clinical, research and administrative. Each situation is based on what the training committee has witnessed or experienced themselves.
Employees practice responding to microaggressions in small breakout groups using the ACT framework, which is asking for permission to respond, communicating disagreement and telling the person why the comment was hurtful or problematic.
From February to July 2021, more than 3,700 employees participated in the training. The program remains focused on training the remaining employees but is also developing a guide for department managers to provide advice and support for discussions.