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Training clinicians in culturally relevant care: a curriculum to improve knowledge and comfort with the transgender and gender diverse population

  • Assisted Reproduction Technologies
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Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To design a replicable simulation curriculum collaboratively with the transgender and gender diverse community to improve clinician knowledge and comfort with providing reproductive care to this population.

Methods

This is a prospective, single arm pre-post analysis of obstetrics and gynecology residents at a single academic institution after completion of a novel simulation curriculum. The primary outcome was the change in resident comfort and knowledge in providing transgender and gender diverse patient care. A thematic analysis of learner and standardized patient free text responses was analyzed for insights on perceived learner experiences.

Results

This curriculum was created with iterative feedback from the transgender community and involved only transgender and gender diverse-identified standardized patients. Thirty residents participated, with 22 responding to both the pre-and post-curriculum surveys, and 11 responding to a 6-month post-curriculum survey. There were significant improvements in learner comfort and knowledge after participation that were found to persist at 6 months. Qualitative analysis demonstrated that this was a positive and powerful learning experience for both residents and standardized patients.

Conclusions

This simulation curriculum may be an effective and impactful tool to increase trainee comfort and knowledge of transgender and gender diverse patient care, which is important given the lack of physician training in the care for these individuals. By building the foundation with resident learners, the ultimate goal is to enhance the pool of clinicians confident and capable of caring for transgender and gender diverse patients, to increase access to care, and to improve health outcomes in this vulnerable population.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the following people for their help in organizing, running, and facilitating this curriculum: Jennifer Blakemore, MD: NYU Langone Fertility Center; Fabio Ferrari, MD: Bay Area Ob-Gyn, Women’s Care Florida; Kevin Moore, BSN, RN: NYU Langone Health; Jessica Rose, MD: NYU School of Medicine; Olga Smuklavsky: NYU School of Medicine. No compensation was received by any of the aforementioned contributors.

Funding

The simulation was funded by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York University Langone Medical Center. Partial funding was provided from the NIH/NCI R25CA142519 supplement (MPIs Quinn & Vadaparampil).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Gwendolyn P. Quinn

    Present address: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, New York University Langone Health, NY, New York, USA

  2. Fabiana Maria Kreines

    Present address: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Urogynecology and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

  3. Stefanie Cardamone

    Present address: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stony Brook Medicine, NY, Stony Brook, USA

  4. Guillermo E. Pi

    Present address: Department of Pediatrics, Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

  5. Tiffany Cook

    Present address: UMass Chan Medical School, Diversity and Inclusion Office, Worcester, MA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, New York University Langone Health, NY, New York, USA

    Fabiana Maria Kreines & Stefanie Cardamone

  2. Department of Pediatrics, New York University Langone Health, NY, New York, USA

    Guillermo E. Pi

  3. Office of Diversity Affairs, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Tiffany Cook

  4. Department of Pediatrics, Division of Adolescent Medicine, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA

    Caroline Salas-Humara

  5. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, New York University Langone Fertility Center, New York, NY, USA

    Elizabeth Fino & Jacquelyn Shaw

Authors
  1. Fabiana Maria Kreines
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Fabiana Maria Kreines was involved in simulation creation and administration, data collection and analysis, and was the primary writer of the manuscript. Gwendolyn P. Quinn was involved in simulation creation, funding acquisition, supervision of data collection and analysis, and review/editing of the manuscript. Stefanie Cardamone was involved in simulation creation, funding acquisition, and review/editing of the manuscript. Guillermo E Pi was involved in simulation creation and review/editing of the manuscript. Tiffany Cook was involved in simulation creation and administration, data collection, and review/editing of the manuscript. Caroline Salas Humara was involved in simulation creation and administration and review/editing of the manuscript. Elizabeth Fino was involved in simulation creation and administration and review/editing of the manuscript. Jacquelyn Shaw was involved in simulation creation and administration, data collection and analysis, and both writing and editing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fabiana Maria Kreines.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This study was reviewed and approved by the NYU Grossman School of Medicine Institutional Review Board (i19-02014_CR2).

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Kreines, F.M., Quinn, G.P., Cardamone, S. et al. Training clinicians in culturally relevant care: a curriculum to improve knowledge and comfort with the transgender and gender diverse population. J Assist Reprod Genet 39, 2755–2766 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-022-02655-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-022-02655-1

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