Radiologists have at times struggled to deliver appropriate care for LGBTQ patients, but one East Coast provider has improved staff knowledge with a simple intervention.
LifeBridge Health System recently designed a pilot educational program targeting terminology related to gender fluidity and sexual orientation. Dozens of team members have now taken part and they’re seeing gains in follow-up testing, according to a new Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology study.
“Through our initiative, the radiology department formed a closer relationship with our LGBTQ patient liaison, allowing our staff to reach out to them—our liaison uses they/them pronouns—with questions, either with or without a patient present, to get real-time support for LGBTQ patients,” first author Tiffany Wandy, MBA, executive director of LifeBridge’s clinically integrated network, and colleagues wrote March 7.
The study’s authors noted that these individuals often face “significant” health disparities and barriers to care. In radiology specifically, those can include appropriate cancer screening based on sex and complicated questions for pregnant transgender patients regarding radiation exposure and contrast agents. LifeBridge was spurred to take action on these issues while seeking designation as a healthcare equality leader from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
To get there, the Baltimore-based system created a pilot program in collaboration between its Julian O. Salik Department of Radiology and LGBTQ patient liaison Sommer Gray. The team created a one-hour training session aimed at helping staff identify at least three risk factors that contribute to care disparities. LifeBridge also challenged imaging team members to share one bias or stereotype they held about such patients and enact two more ways to affirm gender.
The health system held the one-hour workshops on site in hospital conference rooms, scheduled around staff shifts to boost attendance. Sessions centered around a case study—either clinical or administrative, depending on the audience—asking participants to wrestle with several questions in small groups: When presented with this patient, what first comes to your mind? What do you need to know to provide high-quality care? And what can you say to start building rapport?
Participants completed both pre- and post-workshop assessments, which demonstrated progress. On average before the session, attendees answered 2.5 questions correctly, 0.5 incorrectly, and left two blank. But afterword, the numbers jumped to 4.1 correct answers (a 64% increase), incorrect responses stayed flat at 0.5, while blank responses fell to 0.5 (75% decrease). The query most commonly skipped in post assessments was: Why is the term “sexual orientation” preferred over “sexual preference”?
“Knowing that many participants continue to struggle with the distinction between these two terms, the team will incorporate a more specific discussion of this topic into future training sessions,” researchers concluded.
You can read much more about the program in Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology here.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.