Implicit bias and microaggressions in healthcare are heavily discussed throughout nursing school. However, having witnessed certain words and actions in the hospital setting during clinical rotations, I now realize how the healthcare system is riddled with implicit biases and microaggressions. These reflections have caused me immense internal turmoil as I become more and more frustrated with how people treat and speak to one another. Whether it is the improper use of translator services with a patient who does not speak English, offensive comments made at the nurses' station about patients with obesity or patients facing homelessness, microaggressions made toward nursing students and new nurses, or disregarding a transgender patient's preferred pronouns, these wrongful acts have made an impact on me. Witnessing these actions has fueled a frustrated fire within my soul and given me even more of a passion for advocating for people, especially my patients, to be treated well.

We, as a new generation of nurses entering the profession, must change the hospital culture and the units in which we work. We need to speak up when someone on the healthcare team does or says something inappropriate about another member of the healthcare team, a patient, or any other person. If we encourage incoming nurses to reflect on and challenge their implicit biases, they can influence other coworkers and work to change the culture. Acknowledging and challenging implicit biases will, in turn, improve patient outcomes and make hospitals safer places for people of all backgrounds, races, cultures, and sexualities. Further, challenging implicit biases is something that we nurses need to take into our everyday lives to advocate for people outside of the hospital. We can use various methods to combat implicit biases, such as the Microaggressions Triangle Model, to help target the source, recipient, and bystander.1 Providing nursing students with simulations, information, and tools to combat implicit biases will result in a tremendous change in the future of our hospital systems.

Although I have experienced substantial distress over the implicit biases and microaggressions I have seen, I am thankful for the passion it has given me. I remain hopeful for the future of healthcare with this new generation of nurses.

Bethany Winters, BSN

Sacramento, Calif.

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