Attitude and Medical Knowledge Among Medical Trainees and Physicians on the Transgender Population: A Multi-Institutional Survey

Abstract

Objectives Despite a growing population of people who identify as transgender in the United States, existing healthcare and medical education systems have not all adapted to meet the needs of transgender people. Transgender individuals face persistent disparities in accessing healthcare that are often rooted in provider bias, lack of education, and systematic discrimination.Methods The present study surveyed 573 medical students, residents, fellows, faculty physicians, and attending physicians from three United States academic medical centers regarding their attitudes and medical knowledge on the transgender population. A Likert-scale survey was used and results were analyzed for significant associations of attitude and medical knowledge with age, sex-assigned at birth, gender identity, sexual orientation, years of practice, ethnicity, religion, and institution.Results The results of this study demonstrated significant associations between attitudes and medical knowledge of medical trainees and professionals amongst different sex, gender, ethnicity, religion, and institution. For example, female respondents showed significantly more affirming attitudes, higher comfort level, and greater interest in transgender healthcare education, suggesting a sex-based difference in readiness to engage with transgender healthcare issues.Conclusions These findings demonstrate a need to improve medical education curricula and continuing education for medical trainees and professionals regarding the transgender population. Improvements in medical education curricula may include expanding formal curriculum hours dedicated to transgender healthcare, incorporating transgender patient cases into clinical examinations, teaching inclusive language, and more.