Improving Care for Transgender Veterans Through Staff Education

The VHA Directive 1341 (2018a): Providing Health Care for Transgender and Intersex Veterans, outlines care for transgender patients. Staff members at the project site lacked knowledge of the directive and available resources, making their care of transgender veterans inefficient. The purpose of the project was to implement staff education about the directive and resources to increase transgender patient visits and access to care. The practice-focused question asked whether the development and implementation of staff education about the national directive and transgender services would affect the number of transgender patient visits in a 2-month period. The Iowa and Community Readiness Models provided structure for the practice change. The Community Readiness Assessment tool was used to assess staff education needs regarding transgender services. The results indicated that staff have knowledge about community experts, no knowledge about federal funding, and inadequate knowledge about support from staff and leaders, qualified professionals, and laws/practices. The staff education about Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) resources tool was created and disseminated via meetings and e-mail. ICD-10 codes for gender identity disorder were evaluated for the number of transgender patient visits, which showed an increase in visits by 0.7 per month. Recommendations include continuing staff education during LGBT events and ICD-10 data reports. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to increase transgender patient visits to the site, which could lead to quality, comprehensive care to promote health and prevent disease