Physicians and nurses must be aware of these issues to create a welcoming and logistically sound environment, said Nicole Rosendale, MD, a neurohospitalist at the University of California San Francisco who has a special interest in LGBT care.
Dr. Nicole Rosendale
“As a hospitalist, it’s your job to care for LGBT inpatients appropriately, to very quickly build rapport and to build trust and understanding so that you can deliver the best care that you can for each person,” Dr. Rosendale said.
Dr. Ng noted that even the information technology clinicians rely upon may not be optimized for transgender patients. For instance, he said electronic health records may pose problems if they haven’t been adapted to include the necessary gender identity options or preferred names and pronouns.
“Most electronic health records are fairly binary-driven,” Dr. Ng said. “Our transgender patients turn that model on its head. We have had to create many additional workarounds.”