Abstract
This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Purpose Transgender health competency among medical students and clinical providers remains poor, yet standardized curricula are lacking. Integrating the rapidly evolving teaching methods of the current technological era, a team of physicians and instructional designers created and evaluated a visual-format, interactive eLearning module to teach core competencies of transgender healthcare. Methods From September-March 2020, 416 students (MS1-MS4) from a NY-based medical school participated in the curriculum, which covered sexual development, gender affirmation surgeries, medical management, and health screening for transgender patients. Students completed pre/post surveys about their knowledge, comfort, and preparedness. Changes were assessed using the Chi-squared test. Commentaries were evaluated with thematic analysis. Results Pre-intervention, 68% of MS4s and 53% of MS3s rated the preclinical transgender curricula as "very poor," "poor," or "fair." Among the 187 students who took the module and post-survey, 79% felt "more comfortable" and 81% felt "more prepared" in providing healthcare to transgender patients after completion. Each class demonstrated statistically significant increases in comfort compared to baseline assessments. Students submitted >150 positive comments on the module's educational content, illustrations, and functionality. Conclusions As medical schools increasingly embrace virtual learning, this interactive learning tool serves as a model for expanding transgender healthcare curricula throughout the country.
Highlights
There is growing recognition of the need to expand transgender health curricula in medical schools throughout the United States
As medical schools increasingly embrace virtual learning, this interactive learning tool serves as a model for expanding transgender healthcare curricula throughout the country
A 2018 meta-analysis reveals that few studies have directly assessed medical student attitudes and knowledge about transgender patients and transgender health issues (Dubin et al, 2018)
Summary
An anecdotal review of the preclinical curriculum at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) found that the word "transgender" was included in only 8 of the 658 medical science lecture PowerPoints presented in 2016-2017, excluding the Art and Science of Medicine humanities course, performed using the word search function. This may be explained by schools’ disproportionate focus on LGB people, frequently discussed in the context of a "high-risk" or "specialty" population
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