Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachussetts 02118, USA.
Endocr Pract. 2013 Jul-Aug;19(4):633-7. doi: 10.4158/EP13014.OR.
A barrier to safe therapy for transgender patients is lack of access to care. Because transgender medicine is rarely taught in medical curricula, few physicians are comfortable with the treatment of transgender conditions. Our objective was to demonstrate that a simple content change in a medical school curriculum would increase students' willingness to care for transgender patients.
Curriculum content was added to the endocrinology unit of the Boston University second-year pathophysiology course regarding rigidity of gender identity, treatment regimens, and monitoring requirements. All medical students received an online, anonymous questionnaire 1 month prior to and 1 month after receiving the transgender teaching. The questionnaire asked about predicted comfort using hormones to treat transgender individuals. Shifts in the views of the second-year students were compared with views of students not exposed to the curriculum change.
Prior to the unit, 38% of students self-reported anticipated discomfort with caring for transgender patients. In addition, 5% of students reported that the treatment was not a part of conventional medicine. Students in the second-year class were no different than other students. Subsequent to the teaching unit, the second-year students reported a 67% drop in discomfort with providing transgender care (P<.001), and no second-year students reported the opinion that treatment was not a part of conventional medicine.
A simple change in the content of the second-year medical school curriculum significantly increased students' self-reported willingness to care for transgender patients.
对 transgender 患者进行安全治疗的障碍是无法获得护理。由于 transgender 医学在医学课程中很少教授，因此很少有医生对 transgender 病症的治疗感到满意。我们的目的是证明在医学院课程中进行简单的内容更改将提高学生照顾 transgender 患者的意愿。
在波士顿大学第二年病理生理学课程的内分泌学单元中添加了有关性别认同僵化、治疗方案和监测要求的课程内容。所有医学生在接受 transgender 教学之前和之后的一个月都通过在线匿名问卷接受了调查。该问卷询问了学生使用激素治疗 transgender 个体的预计舒适度。比较了第二年学生的观点变化与未接触课程变化的学生的观点变化。
在该单元之前，有 38%的学生自我报告称对照顾 transgender 患者感到不适。此外，有 5%的学生报告称该治疗方法不属于常规医学。第二年的学生与其他学生没有什么不同。在教学单元之后，第二年的学生报告称对提供 transgender 护理的不适感下降了 67%（P<.001），并且没有第二年的学生报告认为该治疗不属于常规医学。
在第二年医学院课程的内容中进行简单的更改，大大提高了学生自我报告的照顾 transgender 患者的意愿。
