Improving the Provision of Health Care for Lesbian, Gay,Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ Patients

PROBLEM: Improving the provision of health care for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+ (LGBTQ+) patients is a recent focus of Healthy People 2020, The Institute of Medicine, and The World Health Organization. Studies repeatedly suggest that health professional students and health care providers are not receiving adequate education on the unique health considerations for the LGBTQ+ population. Educational interventions for providers display efficacy in improving the wellbeing of LGBTQ+ patients.METHODS: The focus of this quality improvement project was to create and disseminate an evidence-based LGBTQ+ health toolkit and observe how it affected provider knowledge, attitudes, and practice behaviors regarding the delivery of LGTBQ+ health care. The toolkit consisted of a brief presentation and a detailed electronic booklet regarding LGBTQ+ health care considerations. The author conducted a pre-test survey of providers, disseminated the toolkit, and then conducted a post-test survey. Then, non-parametric tests were utilized for data analysis.RESULTS: There was a change in attitudes, knowledge, and practice behaviors following this intervention. Following the toolkit's implementation, of the 19 total survey questions, mean scores improved (p's < 0.05; Wilcoxon signed rank test) on 40% of the attitude questions, 72% of the knowledge questions, and 43% of the practice behavior questions. All post-test participants (N=21) indicated that the toolkit was useful for their clinical and educational practices, and that the toolkit was easy to use.CONCLUSIONS: A brief, evidenced-based toolkit for providers has the potential to improve provider knowledge, practice behaviors, and attitudes about LGBTQ+ patient care. Downstream, this might improve the delivery and quality of health care for LGBTQ+ patients; further research must be conducted in order to assess the long-term outcomes of this, and similar, educational interventions.