The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #62297

Brian M. Hurley, MSII, Kristen C. Ochoa, MSIII, Anne M. Khalsa, MD, and Peter J. Katsufrakis, MD, MBA. Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 1333 San Pablo Street, MCH 51-C, Los Angeles, CA 90089-9152, 818-359-9632, bhurley@usc.edu

The LGBT patient population is frequently overlooked and inadequately cared for by our health care system. The Healthy People 2010 agenda recognizes that LGBT populations experience specific health disparities. Contributing to these disparities is a lack of LGBT-specific medical school curricula. Research on medical school curricula indicates that personal experiences with a LGBT person, or having more information about homosexuality, improve medical student attitudes towards LGBT patients. Studies also show that LGBT curricula improve the learning environment for LGBT physicians in training. Within this context, the Medical Gay and Lesbian Organization (MedGLO) of the Keck School of Medicine, USC in collaboration with the administration, has developed an extensive curriculum designed to introduce medical students to LGBT health. Both formal and student-organized activities provide medical students with direct personal contact with LGBT people, and offer education about healthcare problems experienced by LGBT patients using patient/provider panels and small group discussions facilitated by LGBT people. Post-session surveys following student-organized sessions posed the following questions on a 1-4 scale where 1 was "very new/relevant" and 4 was "not new/relevant": 1. How much of the information presented was new to you? 2. How relevant do you feel the issues presented are to health care providers? and 3. How relevant is this lecture for your future training and when practicing as a physician? Results, averaged over each session, indicate 2.08, 1.31, 1.28, respectively. We anticipate that this experience will enhance care of future LGBT patients seen by Keck School graduates.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to:
• Characterize the components of an effective curriculum that introduces medical students to LGBT-competent care.
• Describe the process of curriculum development, including the role of student-administrator collaboration, and barriers encountered in curriculum implementation.
• Describe the LGBT-specific curriculum developed at USC and its integration into pre-clinical training.

Keywords: Gay, Medicine

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.