Inclusion of LGBT content in undergraduate medical curriculum low

Issue: October 2011

The median reported time dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-associated topics was 5 hours across medical schools in the United States and Canada. In many schools, deans endorsed dissatisfaction with their institutions’ coverage, according to new findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In a cross-sectional study, researchers from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Medical Education Research Group set out to assess lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-related (LGBT) medical curricula and associated curricular development practices.

Between May 2009 and March 2010, surveys were administered to deans of medical education at 176 allopathic or osteopathic medical schools across Canada and the United States to determine deans’ assessments of their institutions’ LGBT-associated curricular.

Of 132 completed questionnaires, the overall median reported time dedicated to teaching LGBT content was 5 hours (interquartile range [IQR], 3-8 hours).

During preclinical years, 6.8% respondents (95% CI, 2.5-11.1) reported zero hours of teaching LGBT content; 33.3% reported zero hours taught during clinical years (95% CI, 25.3-41.4). Compared with a median of zero clinical hours reported by US osteopathic schools (P=.008), US allopathic schools reported a median of 2 clinical hours.

Of 16 LGBT-specific topic areas in the required curriculum, the reported teaching frequency was low. Only eight topics were covered across 83 schools (62.9%; 95% CI, 54.6-71.1); all topics were covered across only 11 schools (8.3%; 95% CI, 3.6-13).The institutions’ LGBT content was most commonly rated as “fair” at 43.9% of schools (95% CI, 35.5-52.4), the researchers reported.

Potential strategies aimed at increasing coverage of LGBT content were recommended: 58.3% of deans suggested inclusion of material focusing on LGBT-related health and health disparities (95% CI, 49.9-66.7); and 50.8% of deans (95% CI, 42.2-59.3) suggested faculty should be willing and able to teach LGBT-related curricular content.

In an accompanying editorial, Raymond H. Curry, MD, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, wrote: “There seems little question that survey respondents see LGBT issues as deserving of more attention in medical education. … The findings that these leaders report students’ opportunities to learn about LGBT issues inadequate, would find it helpful to have more generally available curricular materials and wish the faculty were more willing to teach in these areas are perhaps the most compelling aspects of the study. This snapshot of LGBT-related education seems to indicate missed educational opportunities that are important to medical students.”

For more information:

Curry RH. JAMA. 2011;doi:10.1001/jama.2011.1266.

Obedin-Maliver J. JAMA. 2011;doi:10.1001/jama.2011.1255.

Disclosure: This work was supported by Stanford University School of Medicine, Office of the Dean, Office of Diversity and Leadership; Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University; and the Stanford University LGBT Community Resources Center.

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