The Physician's Duty to Care for Others: Resistance Against Evidence-Based Gender-Affirming Care Among Physician...

Gender-affirming care is an evidence-based form of medicine but is increasingly under threat across the country. We explored first-year resident physician attitudes toward gender-affirming care.

First-year residents in obstetrics and gynecology, urology, plastic surgery, family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics in the United States were invited to participate in a survey. Qualitative responses to an open-text question were analyzed inductively to identify themes.

Among the 93 survey respondents, 14 (15%) responded to the open-ended question. Five respondents expressed negative attitudes toward transgender and gender-diverse people and toward gender-affirming care.

Some resident physicians oppose gender-affirming care. Further research is needed to elucidate the breadth and depth of these sentiments and their potential impact on patient care.