Promoting Affirmative Transgender Health Care Practice Within Hospitals: An IPE Standardized Patient Simulation for Graduate Health Care Learners

Abstract

Introduction: Transgender patients frequently experience discrimination within health care settings due to provider lack of knowledge and bias resulting in poor service delivery. Team-based interprofessional collaboration is becoming a best practice for health professionals to improve patient-centered care and address these health disparities. Methods: A team-based interprofessional education simulation activity was developed as a teaching activity at a university for graduate health care learners in medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physician assistant, social work, and health care administration programs over 2 years (N = 494). The simulation focused on a transgender patient brought to the emergency department (ED) after a workplace assault. Students were placed in interprofessional teams and asked to critique the initial ED interaction with the patient and then complete a team huddle and discharge planning meeting with a standardized patient. Student preparedness to engage in the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) competencies was assessed through a posttest measure. Results: Student learners reacted overwhelmingly positively to the activities of the workshop. The averaging of 2 years of data yielded students responses of strongly agree and agree at 90% or higher for all IPEC core competencies, as well as for educational objectives of the workshop. Discussion: Reducing the structural, interpersonal, and individual stigma experienced by transgender patients requires institutions to offer experiential learning opportunities for future health care providers. This interprofessional education simulation experience focusing on transgender patients calls attention to the negative impact of stigma while also promoting competency in interprofessional practice.

Early Intervention for LGBTQ Health: A 10-Hour Curriculum for Preclinical Health Professions Students

“…[20][21][22][23][24][25] These examples demonstrate the effectiveness of LGBTQ health education initiatives, but many lack the necessary materials and sufficient detail for easy integration into another institution's preclinical curriculum. MedEdPORTAL has previously published similar content, much of which consists of discrete activities (e.g., case discussions, 26,27 standardized patient cases/simulations, [28][29][30][31][32][33] and other brief activities [34][35][36][37] ) that are similar to individual components of the curriculum presented here. Some of these publications describe more comprehensive activities but tend to focus on specific skills [38][39][40][41][42][43] or specific subpopulations of LGBTQ individuals, [44][45][46] and many are targeted toward learners at later stages of their training.…”

Interprofessional learning in social and health care—Learning experiences from large‐group simulation in Finland

“…As a result, there is an increasing need for multiprofessional cooperation, communication and the combination of knowledge and expertise. This enables meeting today's challenges through the special competence of different professionals and producing good and safe care for clients and patients (Labrague, McEnroe‐Petitte, Fronda, & Obeidat, 2018; McCave, Aptaker, Hartman, & Zucconi, 2019). Good collaboration between professional groups requires, among other things, knowledge of the competence of other professions as well as communication to ensure that all professional groups understand the common goal of their work and each other's’ working approaches (Ponzer & Castrén, 2013).…”

The influence of the oncology‐focused transgender‐simulated patient simulation on nursing students' cultural competence development

“…Although integration of specific LGBTQ simulation activities into nursing curricula have begun, 3,8,11 there is still great need for further evidence for carefully designed SP‐focused teaching an learning activities. The TSPS strategy that was utilized in this study was part of ABSN nursing students' last semester elective oncology course.…”

“…Transgender patients often experience discrimination in health care settings due to the lack of knowledge and bias of the healthcare professional resulting in poor quality healthcare delivery 1‐3 . In 2015, the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) conducted the largest national survey 4 examining the experiences of transgender persons in the United States, with 27 715 respondents from all 50 states.…”