Asian American Women Healthcare Professionals’ Experiences of Workplace Bias

BACKGROUND: Asian American women represent a significant portion of the healthcare workforce, but there has been little research on their experiences of workplace bias, such as microaggressions and discrimination. OBJECTIVE: To describe the experiences of Asian American women healthcare workers (HCWs) on the issues of race, gender, and workplace bias within healthcare organizations. DESIGN: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted via video-conferencing from July 2022 to March 2023. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-five participants who self-identified as Asian American women and worked in the Pacific Northwest were interviewed. Participants held a variety of professional roles, such as nursing assistants (CNAs), medical assistants (MAs), nurses (RNs), advanced practice providers (APPs), and physicians. They were employed in various medical and surgical specialties and worked in both clinics and hospitals in urban and rural settings. APPROACH: The types of workplace bias experienced by Asian American women HCWs, their impact on participants, and how participants coped with these experiences were recorded through one-on-one interviews with study authors. These interviews were transcribed and analyzed using an inductive approach to thematic analysis. KEY RESULTS: Participants reported a variety of interpersonal microaggressions and organizational discrimination with impacts on their wellbeing and career trajectories. Microaggressions included underestimation of a participant's role and competence, stereotypes of homogeneity, assumption of foreignness, and hypersexualization. Participants reported developing a variety of coping strategies to deal with microaggressions and organization-level discrimination. CONCLUSIONS: Asian American women HCWs commonly reported facing challenges of racism and sexism and experiencing heightened stress from workplace bias. Healthcare organizations need a greater understanding of these challenges to support women HCWs of color and boost retention of healthcare professionals with diverse backgrounds.