LGBTQ Medical Education Research Group–

Project: Transgender: The Missing "T" in Medical Education

Project: Transgender: The Missing "T" in Medical Education
Aims/Objectives To evaluate the extent of coverage of transgender-related content in medical education curricula in Canada and the United States, and discuss student perspectives on transgender patients.
Overview Transgender and gender non-conforming patients suffer from major health disparities as compared to non-transgendered (i.e. cisgendered) individuals. While many factors impact transgender persons' health status, health care providers' perceived or real lack of understanding and competency in handling transgender patients' health concerns may play a part in these disparities. In this paper, we combine three different data sources to show how transgender-related topics lag behind other LGBT-related topics in terms of curricular coverage, and discuss educational implications of medical students' understanding of transgender patients.
Data Source Web-based questionnaire sent to deans of medical education (n=150, response rate: 85.2%), web-based questionnaire sent to medical students (n=5,795) and focus group interviews of medical students at 5 institutions (n=35).
Partners/Collaborators
  • Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
  • American Medical Association: Medical Students Section
  • American Medical Association: Advisory Committee, GLBT Issues
  • American Association of Medical Colleges
  • American Association of Medical Colleges: Committee on Diversity Affairs
  • American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
  • American Medical Student Association
  • Student Osteopathic Medical Association
  • Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents
  • Canadian Federation of Medical Students
Related Literature

  • Healthy People 2020 Transgender Health Fact Sheet. 2010. Access through http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/

  • Kelley L, Chou CL, Dibble SL, Robertson PA. 2008.  A critical intervention in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender health: knowledge and attitude outcomes among second-year medical students. Teaching and Learning in Medicine 20 (3): 248-53.

  • Langer SJ. Gender (Dis)Agreement: A Dialogue on the Clinical Implications of Gendered Language. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health. 2011; 15(3):300-307.

  • Vanderleest JG, Galper CQ. 2009. Improving the health of transgender people: transgender medical education in Arizona. The Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care 20 (5): 411-6.
LGBT MERG Presentations, Abstracts, and Publications Data in this paper were presented at the 2011 Academy Health Conference, 2011 Gay and Lesbian Medical Association Conference, and at the 2011 Stanford Medical Student Research Symposium.
LGBT MERG Contact Pending

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