FIRST IN THE NATION:
MEDICAL SCHOOL INCORPORATING LGBT
TRAINING BASED ON NEWLY RELEASED
AAMC COMPETENCIES
All photos by Tony Simms
Susan Sawning, MSSW, Brian Buford, M. Ed., Stacie Steinbock, M.Ed., Ann
Shaw, MD, MA, Toni Ganzel, MD*, MBA, Amy Holthouser, MD*, Leslee Martin,
MA, V. Faye Jones, MD, PhD., MSPH* (*Only GLMS Physician members are pictured as authors in Louisville Medicine.)
domains of care critical to training physicians, including patient
care, knowledge for practice, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, systems-based practice, inter-professional collaboration and personal
and professional development. This competency-based framework
will allow medical educators to integrate the new guidelines into
existing curricula more easily.
T
he University of Louisville School of Medicine will serve
as the nation’s pilot site for training future physicians on
the unique health care concerns and issues encountered by
people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), gender
nonconforming or born with differences of sex development (DSD).
LGBT and DSD-Affected individuals have specific health care
needs and face significant health disparities. Nationally, LGBT
and DSD-Affected patients report a lack of provider education as a
barrier to effective health care and transgender patients report being
harassed or disrespected in a hospital or doctor’s office. As a result,
many of these patients avoid medical treatment, including emergency care. The average time dedicated to teaching LGBT related
content in North American medical schools in the entire curriculum
is approximately five hours, meaning that in many schools it is much
lower. The Institute of Medicine, The Joint Commission, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, and the Association of
American Medical Colleges (AAMC) have all recently emphasized
the need for increased provider education in LGBT health.
In November 2014, the AAMC Advisory Committee on Sexual
Orientation, Gender Identity, and Differences of Sex Development
released specific competencies to provide medical schools with a
framework for recognizing existing gaps in LGBT and DSD-Affected training, and issued a challenge to medical schools to address
the needs of LGBT patients. These competencies fall under eight
12
LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
“We are very excited to serve as our nation’s learning ground in
training the next generation of physicians in meeting the unique
health care needs of our LGBT and DSD-Affected population,” said
Toni Ganzel, MD, Dean of the U of L School of Medicine. “Every
segment of our population brings its own set of health care issues
and concerns. As we strive to provide the highest quality training
possible, it is a privilege to model that educational experience for
our colleagues throughout the nation.”
The LGBT Center at U of L, the School of Medicine’s Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) Office, and the Health Sciences
Center’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion have partnered to initiate
eQuality: Leading Medical Education to Deliver Equitable Quality
Care for all People, Regardless of Identity, Development, or Expression
of Gender/Sex/Sexuality. The mission of eQuality is to implement a
comprehensive medical school curriculum that requires students to
learn, practice, and demonstrate mastery of skills, knowledge, and
attitudes required for excellent care of patients who are LGBT, gender
non-conforming, and/or born with disorders of sex development.
Two of the primary authors of the AAMC competencies, Jennifer
Potter, MD, Harvard School of Medicine, and Kristen Eckstrand,
PhD (and fourth-year medical student), Vanderbilt University
School of Medicine, will assist the U of L School of Medicine with
eQuality. Additionally, John Davis, MD, from The Ohio State University and the AAMC Group on Diversity & Inclusion LGBT Issues
Representative also will assist the project.
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