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Review
. 2023 Feb;21(Suppl 2):S92-S94.
doi: 10.1370/afm.2926.

Transforming Medical Education to Provide Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Patients: A Policy Brief

Paul D Juarez  1 , Aramandla Ramesh  2 , Jayne S Reuben  3 , Asa E Radix  4 , Cheryl L Holder  5 , Katherine Y Brown  1 , Mohammad Tabatabai  6 , Patricia Matthews-Juarez  1   7
Affiliations
Review

Transforming Medical Education to Provide Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Patients: A Policy Brief

Paul D Juarez et al. Ann Fam Med. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) patients experience a greater burden of health disparities compared with their heterosexual/cisgender counterparts. Some of the poorer health outcomes observed in these populations are known to be associated with the prevalence of implicit bias, bullying, emotional distress, alcoholism, drug abuse, intimate partner violence, sexually transmitted infections (eg, human immunodeficiency virus and human papilloma virus), and cancer. The TGD populations face unique barriers to receiving both routine and gender-affirming health care (acquiring hormones and gender-affirming surgeries). Additional barriers to implementing affirming care training for TGD patients are lack of expertise among medical education faculty and preceptors both in undergraduate and in graduate medical education programs. Drawing on a systematic review of the literature, we propose a policy brief aimed at raising awareness about gender-affirming care among education planners and policy makers in government and advisory bodies.

Keywords: LGBTQ; curricula; gender-affirming care; health care workforce; medical education; primary care; transgender and gender-diverse patients; vulnerable populations.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: authors report none.

References

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