Pilot Study: Increasing Medical Student Comfort in Transgender Gynecology

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to use survey data to better understand medical students’ comfort in taking care of transgender patients and to determine whether this is an area that needs to be expanded upon in their curriculum. Methods: Eight pre-clerkship medical students participated in a virtual two-week course about gynecologic transgender care which included a mix of self-paced learning combined with two days of interactive faculty-led sessions. Students were asked to complete a pre and post course survey evaluating their comfort in caring for transgender individuals.  Results: We had an 100% response rate to our pre and post course survey. Students’ knowledge about the gynecologic needs of transgender individuals significantly improved after taking the course with the average student rating before and after the course being 2.38 ± 0.74 (p<0.05) and 4.25 ± 0.46 (p<0.05), respectively. In addition, 100% of students “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that this course built their confidence in taking care of transgender patients in the clinical setting. Conclusions: This study highlights a potential gap in medical education while also emphasizing that knowledge on this special population can enhance physician confidence when caring for transgender individuals.