Presented By: Erica Ausel, Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Co-Authors: Parker Williams, Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine

Purpose 
Research has demonstrated that members of the LGBTQ+ community often face disadvantages when accessing and utilizing the healthcare system. To this date, little research has been conducted to explore the comfort levels of student doctors about identifying, caring for, and discussing the individualistic healthcare needs of members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Methods 
For this project, medical students were asked to participate in an anonymous online survey to provide information regarding their training and perceived ability and comfort for providing healthcare in these communities. The anonymous survey employed Likert scale statements where students selected their comfortability for identifying, caring for, and discussing the healthcare needs of straight, bisexual, gay, lesbian, cisgender, and transgender patients. Participants could also complete an open-ended question, identifying any specific questions for providing healthcare to the LGBTQ+ community. A total of 198 student doctors responded to this survey. Distributions of survey answers were compared using Wilcoxon Mann Whitney analyses.

Results 
 These data show that student doctors are significantly less comfortable identifying, caring for, and discussing the healthcare needs of individuals within the LGBTQ+ community when compared to cisgendered and straight males and females (p < 0.001). This educational deficit is highlighted by the number of respondents who selected either somewhat or strongly disagreed with the statement that they were taught the importance of asking a patient about their sexual (65/177; 32.2%) or gender (68/179; 37.2%) identities. In contrast to their perceived education, over 85% of student doctors reported a desire to receive further training regarding LGBTQ+ care.

Conclusion
The results of this study aid in identifying areas that can be improved within medical education to better prepare future physicians for working with LGBTQ+ members.