Implementing Medical Student Teaching on Gynaecological Healthcare of Transgender Patients

Introduction Transgender people have specific healthcare needs and experience difficulty in accessing health services. Medical students should receive teaching on general and gynaecological healthcare issues in this population. Our aim was to assess medical students' knowledge of healthcare needs of transgender people before and after a newly implemented teaching session on transgender healthcare. Method A mixed-method study was carried out over a three month period in a university obstetric and gynaecology hospital in Dublin. A one-hour teaching session was developed and delivered to final year medical students. Students completed a survey before and after receiving the lecture. Results Seventy-one students completed the pre-lecture survey and forty-three completed the post-lecture survey. Pre-lecture, 64 students (90%) reported some-to-no understanding of healthcare issues of transgender people, and only 13 (18%) reported understanding gynaecological issues faced by transgender people. Post-lecture, 41 (95%) had a better understanding of health issues faced by this population and 40 (93%) had a better understanding of gynaecological health issues faced. Most students (81%) wanted further teaching on the topic. Conclusion A one-hour teaching session was effective at improving student knowledge of care of transgender people. This teaching could be expanded to all Irish medical schools. Going forward, the teaching could be adapted for post-graduate obstetric and gynaecology teaching.