VIDEO: What clinicians can do to reduce inequities seen among sexual and gender minority populations

WASHINGTON – Helping patients feel safe and in control is particularly important when serving those who are sexual and minority patients, said Jennifer Potter, MD, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, speaking at the American College of Physicians Internal Medicine Meeting.

According to Potter, clinicians should begin by asking what pronouns the patient prefers — such as he, him, his, or she, her, hers, or they, them, theirs. Clinicians should also ask open-ended questions, encouraging the patient to discuss their social circumstances, family life, support system, stress, bullying, harassment and other issues that may be affecting their daily life.

With regard to physical exam, it is important to remember that sexual and gender minority patients may have previously had negative experiences with healthcare. Particularly with intrusive examinations, clinicians should consider using a trauma-informed approach, making sure the patient has control and consent at all times.

“With sexual and gender minority populations, as with many other minority populations, it’s important to realize that even having endured increased stigma and discrimination, and perhaps having a higher burden of maladaptive coping strategies such as using substances to cope with stress, many sexual and gender minority people are very resilient and have formed extraordinarily adaptive ways of coping with stress,” Potter said. “So getting a sense of the fullness of that is very important, and it’s the duty of the clinician to really support the patient in developing more resilient strategies to cope with stress over time.”