Implementing LGBTQ Curricular Change: A Trainee-Driven Interdisciplinary Approach

The release of the AAMC curriculum guidelines pertaining to people who are LGBT, gender nonconforming, or born with differences of sex development (DSD) in 2014 significantly enhanced medical schools’ ability to implement curricular change. At our institution, we began this process with the goal of making it as trainee-driven as possible. Though our curricular reform coalition initially consisted only of students and faculty from the School of Medicine, we have expanded to include students, residents, and faculty members, as well as trainees from other health sciences programs, including pharmacy and nursing. We have structured our efforts around the “salt and pepper” approach: incorporating small changes wherever possible to move the curriculum from heteronormative to LGBTQ-inclusive, e.g. modification of existing sexual history taking curriculum to include LGBTQ facets and appropriate reflective exercises. A needs assessment targeting one cohort of medical students informed our process. Aside from our primary goal of improving healthcare for LGBTQ people, we believe our process yields important educational and institutional benefits. Through participating in and leading our efforts, trainees are prepared to become leaders in academic medicine by practicing foundational skills including communication, coalition formation, and interprofessional collaboration. Further, trainees have presented posters, contributed to a submission being prepared for MedEdPortal, attended BNGAP conferences, and presented findings to our school’s curriculum committee. Finally, by involving people from multiple programs at every level of education, we have created a deeply-rooted collaborative that can function to provide curricular-reform resources to educators across the health sciences. This poster details our efforts with special emphasis on recruitment and involvement of trainees and interdisciplinary outreach