{"id":121249,"date":"2024-05-06T10:21:49","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T14:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/?p=121249"},"modified":"2024-05-06T10:36:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T14:36:24","slug":"lgbtqi-health-related-content-in-medical-school-has-increased","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/2024\/05\/06\/lgbtqi-health-related-content-in-medical-school-has-increased\/","title":{"rendered":"LGBTQI+ Health-related Content in Medical School has Increased"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reducing barriers to comprehensive and affirming healthcare for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) populations requires physicians to receive LGBTQI+ health content during undergraduate medical education (UME). With more than 7% of the U.S. adult population, 4% of the Canadian adult population and 20% of persons in the U.S. ages 18-25 who are LGBTQI+, there is a critical need to train health care professionals on their specific healthcare needs. LGBTQI+ people experience a higher prevalence of tobacco, alcohol, substance use, and mental health concerns like anxiety, depression and suicidality, as well as elevated cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality.<\/p>\n

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) recommends core competencies regarding LGBTQI+ health-related content. Researchers at BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, report<\/a> time dedicated to these topics did increase in 2022, as compared to a study done in 2011; but they also found the breadth, efficacy, or quality of instruction continues to vary substantially.<\/p>\n

\"head\u201cDespite the increased hours, the numbers still fall short based on recommended LGBTQI+ health competencies from the AAMC,\u201d says lead author Carl G. Streed<\/a>, MD, MPH, FACP, FAHA, associated professor of medicine at the school.\u00a0 \u201cWhile most deans of medical education reported their institutions\u2019 coverage of LGBTQI+ health as \u2018fair,\u2019 \u2018good,\u2019 or \u2018very good,\u2019 there continues to be a call from UME leadership to increase curricular content. This requires dedicated training for faculty and students,\u201d said Streed.<\/p>\n

To determine the frequency and extent of institutional instruction in 17 LGBTQI+ health-related topics, strategies for increasing LGBTQI+ health-related content and faculty development opportunities, researchers invited the deans of medical education (or their equivalent) at 214 allopathic or osteopathic medical schools in the U.S. and Canada to complete a 36-question, web-based questionnaire between June 2021 and September 2022.<\/p>\n

The responses revealed that the time dedicated to LGBTQI+ health-related content in medical school in 2022 was a median of 11 hours, a significant increase of 6 hours since 2011. However, the number of hours in the required curriculum, as well as number of LGBTQI+ health-related topics covered, remained varied from school to school.<\/p>\n

According to the researchers, gaps in UME curricula and outcomes are well documented and persist in the face of calls to action. \u201cConsequently, student comfort with caring for LGBTQI+ populations has lagged. Similar gaps in knowledge and comfort have been reported internationally. These results are contemporary with our findings, suggesting that even a median of 11 hours of LGBTQI+ content is insufficient,\u201d explains Streed, who also is research lead of the GenderCare Center at BMC.<\/p>\n

Streed believes that successful incorporation of LGBTQI+ health into UME requires thoughtfully developed LGBTQI+ health competencies and objectives with appropriate instructional methods and assessments to ensure mastery.\u00a0\u201cWhile the optimal solution to improving LGBTQI+ training is likely institution- and context-dependent, without a mandate from governing bodies such as the AAMC we will continue to see a dearth of physicians prepared to care for these populations.\u00a0 Additionally, graduate medical education must complement UME to ensure trainees receive specialty-specific training on LGBTQI+ health.\u201d<\/p>\n

These findings appear online<\/a> in BMC Medical Education.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Better curriculum content, including faculty training, still needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[90],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121249"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121249"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121250,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121249\/revisions\/121250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}