Enhancing Care to Transgender, Transsexual, and Gender Non-Conforming Adults Through Provider Education

Transgender individuals represent about 1% of the US population. This is an approximation and the number is likely higher. Despite the growing attention and acceptance of transgendered persons, they still represent a generally underserved population. Trans identifying persons frequently report facing discrimination and stigma in multiple aspects of their lives, including health care. Lack of access to providers who are "trans friendly" or "trans competent" is one of the main contributing factors trans identifying individuals list as a barrier to seeking health care. While the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and the current literature recommend that primary care be the source of care for this patient population, there is currently little, if any, provider training available in medical/nursing school curricula to providers specifically on transgender health care. The primary purpose of this project was to increase provider knowledge on the care of transgender individuals, specifically transitional hormone therapy. To accomplish this purpose, a provider-focused presentation, educational tool, and list of local resources were delivered to clinical staff at a college health clinic. Efficacy of this educational intervention was assessed through provider pre- and post-tests. When comparing pre- and post- tests, measuring efficacy of the educational intervention, results were statistically significant with a p-value of 0.007. This indicates that the provider education tool was successful at improving provider knowledge and comfort in caring for trans gender patients and providing hormonal transitional care. An abstract was submitted to the Snowbird CME Conference for dissemination of the project to a larger audience. In summary, the literature supports the need for improved provider education in caring for transgender individuals. Transgender patients frequently seek assistance with hormone therapy and primary care providers have been identified as being ill-equipped to provide this care for these patients. Increasing provider knowledge and confidence in treating transgender patients will improve access to care, quality of care and in turn improve patient outcomes and prevent complications associated with issues such as unsupervised hormone replacement.