Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Medical students and physicians report feeling under-prepared for working with patients who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer LGBTQ. Understanding physician perceptions of this area of practice may aid in developing improved education.
In-depth interviews with 24 general practice physicians in Halifax and Vancouver, Canada, were used to explore whether, when and how the gender identity and sexual orientation of LGBTQ women were relevant to good care. Physicians may be ignoring important aspects of social group memberships that affect health and health care. The authors hold that individual and socio-cultural differences are both important to the provision of quality health care.
Distinct from stereotypes, generalisations about social group differences can provide valuable starting points, raising useful lines of inquiry.
Emphasizing this distinction in medical education may help change physician approaches to the care of LGBTQ women. As a relatively invisible patient population, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer LGBTQ people have unique healthcare needs and associated risks that remain under-acknowledged. Given that medical education in this area is still inadequate, and given the importance of role models in medical education, 24 an understanding of physician perceptions of LGBTQ care is important to aid in developing improved education in this area.
Based on in-depth interviews, this paper sought to interpretively analyze the experiences and understandings of general practice physicians in two Canadian cities Halifax and Vancouver about their work with women patients who identify as LGBTQ. This qualitative study drew from both critical phenomenology 25 , 26 and ethnographic traditions of thick description, 27 interviewing 24 family physicians using semi-structured face-to-face interviews of 60β90 minutes each.
