The need for transgender healthcare medical education - Video abstract [ID 255483]

Video abstract of an original research "The need for transgender healthcare medical education in a developing country” published in the open access journal Advances in Medical Education and Practice by Russell Seth Martins, Raisa Saleh, Hasan Kamal et al.

Purpose: The single most significant barrier to healthcare for people who identify as

transgender is poor access to healthcare providers trained in trans-health. Despite this, transhealth

education is far from being a routine component of the undergraduate medical

curriculum in developing countries like Pakistan. This study aimed to assess knowledge

and attitudes regarding people who identify as transgender, as well as the perceived need for

trans-health in the curriculum, amongst medical students in Pakistan.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study using a self-designed questionnaire was

carried out amongst undergraduate medical students at the Aga Khan University. Stratified

random sampling was used, whereby students were stratified based on their current year of

medical education.

Results: A total of 249 students were included in this survey. The majority (61%) had poor

overall knowledge, with a significantly higher percentage of pre-clinical students (79.6%)

having poor knowledge regarding differences in transgender health needs compared to

clinical students (60.3%; p = 0.001). Most students acknowledged that individuals who

identified as transgender faced a lack of access to healthcare (78.3%), were poorly integrated

into society (92.0%) and were treated differently in a clinical setting (58.6%). Many students

were unsure of how to address (49.8%) and clinically examine (38.2%) patients identifying

as transgender. However, most students demonstrated good (49.4%) or fair (45.0%) attitudes

towards individuals who identified as transgender, and the majority reported a high (54.6%)

or moderate (42.2%) perceived need for the inclusion of trans-health in the medical

curriculum.

Conclusion: Despite deficiencies in trans-health education in the medical school curriculum,

positive attitudes and a high perceived need among students lay the foundation for developing

a medical curriculum that gives due priority to trans-health. In developing countries, this can help

bridge disparities in healthcare provision to people who identify as transgender. Read the full paper here

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