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LGBTQ+ Healthcare Teaching in UK Medical Schools: An Investigation into Medical Students’ Understanding and Preparedness for Practice

OBJECTIVES: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer/questioning + (LGBTQ+) healthcare teaching within UK medical schools is currently lacking, potentially impacting on patients’ confidence in health services and ability to access care. The current study conducted a multi-site analysis aiming to inv...

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Autores principales: Barber, Alice, Flach, Alexander, Bonnington, Jack, Pattinson, Emily M
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10052488/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37008793
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/23821205231164893
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author Barber, Alice
Flach, Alexander
Bonnington, Jack
Pattinson, Emily M
author_facet Barber, Alice
Flach, Alexander
Bonnington, Jack
Pattinson, Emily M
author_sort Barber, Alice
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer/questioning + (LGBTQ+) healthcare teaching within UK medical schools is currently lacking, potentially impacting on patients’ confidence in health services and ability to access care. The current study conducted a multi-site analysis aiming to investigate medical students' perceptions towards the teaching of LGBTQ+ healthcare in UK medical schools, as well as to gain a greater understanding of medical students’ level of knowledge of LGBTQ+ healthcare, and preparedness for working with LGBTQ+ patients. METHODS: Medical students (N = 296) from 28 UK institutions responded to a 15-question online survey distributed via course leads and social media. Thematic analysis of qualitative data was conducted, as well as statistical analysis of quantitative data using SPSS. RESULTS: Only 40.9% of students reported having any teaching on LGBTQ+ healthcare, 96.6% of whom said this was one-off or very irregular sessions. Only 1 in 8 felt their knowledge and skills on LGBTQ+ healthcare was sufficient. 97.2% of students questioned wanted more knowledge on LGBTQ+ healthcare. CONCLUSION: The current study highlighted that UK medical students felt underprepared for working with LGBTQ+ patients due to insufficient education. Given that teaching on LGBTQ+ healthcare is often optional and extra-curricular, it may not be reaching those who need it most. The authors are calling for the mandatory inclusion of LGBTQ+ healthcare in the teaching of all UK medical schools, within their individual curriculum frameworks, and with regulatory support from the General Medical Council. This will ensure a wider understanding among medical students, and subsequently qualified doctors, of the health inequities and unique health issues LGBTQ+ people face, which will better equip them to provide high-quality care to LGBTQ+ patients, and start to tackle the inequities they face.
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spelling pubmed-100524882023-03-30 LGBTQ+ Healthcare Teaching in UK Medical Schools: An Investigation into Medical Students’ Understanding and Preparedness for Practice Barber, Alice Flach, Alexander Bonnington, Jack Pattinson, Emily M J Med Educ Curric Dev Original Research Article OBJECTIVES: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer/questioning + (LGBTQ+) healthcare teaching within UK medical schools is currently lacking, potentially impacting on patients’ confidence in health services and ability to access care. The current study conducted a multi-site analysis aiming to investigate medical students' perceptions towards the teaching of LGBTQ+ healthcare in UK medical schools, as well as to gain a greater understanding of medical students’ level of knowledge of LGBTQ+ healthcare, and preparedness for working with LGBTQ+ patients. METHODS: Medical students (N = 296) from 28 UK institutions responded to a 15-question online survey distributed via course leads and social media. Thematic analysis of qualitative data was conducted, as well as statistical analysis of quantitative data using SPSS. RESULTS: Only 40.9% of students reported having any teaching on LGBTQ+ healthcare, 96.6% of whom said this was one-off or very irregular sessions. Only 1 in 8 felt their knowledge and skills on LGBTQ+ healthcare was sufficient. 97.2% of students questioned wanted more knowledge on LGBTQ+ healthcare. CONCLUSION: The current study highlighted that UK medical students felt underprepared for working with LGBTQ+ patients due to insufficient education. Given that teaching on LGBTQ+ healthcare is often optional and extra-curricular, it may not be reaching those who need it most. The authors are calling for the mandatory inclusion of LGBTQ+ healthcare in the teaching of all UK medical schools, within their individual curriculum frameworks, and with regulatory support from the General Medical Council. This will ensure a wider understanding among medical students, and subsequently qualified doctors, of the health inequities and unique health issues LGBTQ+ people face, which will better equip them to provide high-quality care to LGBTQ+ patients, and start to tackle the inequities they face. SAGE Publications 2023-03-27 /pmc/articles/PMC10052488/ /pubmed/37008793 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/23821205231164893 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
spellingShingle Original Research Article
Barber, Alice
Flach, Alexander
Bonnington, Jack
Pattinson, Emily M
LGBTQ+ Healthcare Teaching in UK Medical Schools: An Investigation into Medical Students’ Understanding and Preparedness for Practice
title LGBTQ+ Healthcare Teaching in UK Medical Schools: An Investigation into Medical Students’ Understanding and Preparedness for Practice
title_full LGBTQ+ Healthcare Teaching in UK Medical Schools: An Investigation into Medical Students’ Understanding and Preparedness for Practice
title_fullStr LGBTQ+ Healthcare Teaching in UK Medical Schools: An Investigation into Medical Students’ Understanding and Preparedness for Practice
title_full_unstemmed LGBTQ+ Healthcare Teaching in UK Medical Schools: An Investigation into Medical Students’ Understanding and Preparedness for Practice
title_short LGBTQ+ Healthcare Teaching in UK Medical Schools: An Investigation into Medical Students’ Understanding and Preparedness for Practice
title_sort lgbtq+ healthcare teaching in uk medical schools: an investigation into medical students’ understanding and preparedness for practice
topic Original Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10052488/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37008793
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/23821205231164893
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