Beyond Sensitivity. LGBT Healthcare Training in U.S. Medical Schools: A Review of the Literature

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Training future physicians to address the health needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population can potentially decrease health disparities faced by such individuals. In this literature review, we examine the characteristics and impact of current LGBT healthcare training at U.S. medical schools.

Methods: We performed a comprehensive literature search to identify studies on LGBT healthcare training in U.S. medical schools. Studies published between January 2000 and September 2016 that described the program and reported on at least one quantitative evaluative measure were included in our review.

Results: We found 13 studies meeting our inclusion criteria. The programs had high levels of variability in curricular content, educational strategies used, duration, and evaluation methods. Many programs utilized an interactive experience involving a standardized patient. The majority of participants in such programs felt this approach was an effective learning strategy. All programs reported that participants felt the training improved their ability to provide more effective healthcare to LGBT patients.

Conclusion: Despite wide variability in their training approaches, the 13 programs we reviewed provided data suggesting a positive impact of LGBT healthcare training.

KEYWORDS:

• LGBT
• healthcare
• healthcare disparities
• training
• medical school

Disclosure

No competing financial interests exist. The abstract from this paper was chosen as a poster presentation for the 2016 LGBT Health Workforce conference in New York City, NY, which took place April 28–30, 2016.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Rishi Rikhi, Jiten Solanki, BreAnne Young, Dr. Stephen Symes, and Dr. Asmeeta Punwani for their editing contributions. The authors would also like to thank research librarians Zsuzsanna Nemeth and Yanira Garcia-Barcena for their assistant in our literature search.