Medical Schools Neglect Gay and Gender Issues; New York Times, 11/10/11

Pauline W. Chen, M.D., New York Times; Medical Schools Neglect Gay and Gender Issues:

"A study published recently in The Journal of the American Medical Association shows that the situation has not changed much for young doctors. Researchers from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Medical Education Research Group at Stanford University School of Medicine surveyed medical school deans in the United States and Canada and asked about the curriculum devoted to topics like gender identity, coming out as gay and disparities in health care access for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients. While nearly all the students were learning to ask patients about the gender of their sexual partners, a majority of medical schools devoted only five hours to teaching anything more than that simple question. Fully one-third of schools allotted no time at all...

But while the federal government has recently announced several initiatives to address disparities in L.G.B.T. health care access, the study confirms that most medical schools are lagging behind. Those schools that do integrate the material into standing courses, offering electives or inviting outside experts to speak on topics like gay parenthood, lesbians’ health or the use of hormones in transitioning from one gender to the other."