Why Trans Buddy?
Transgender people face barriers to accessing healthcare, resulting in population-level disparities in health outcomes. A recent nationwide survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality found that 27% of male-to-female (MTF) and 48% of female-to-male (FTM) transgender individuals postponed medical care due to fear of discrimination by providers (Grant et al., 2011). Additional aspects of healthcare delivery systems, such as Electronic Health Records (EHR) pose barriers to care because they are not designed to adequately address the documentation needs of transgender patients (i.e., preferred name and gender pronouns), resulting in patients being "outed" in the waiting room, and provider confusion about the medical needs of their patient.
The Trans Buddy Program will train peer advocates to help streamline communication between patients, staff, and providers. Trans Buddy peer advocates will also help reduce patient anxiety surrounding receipt of care, thereby reducing delay of care at the population level.
Provider Resources
Center of Excellence for Transgender Health
Clinical Practice Guidelines: Endocrine Treatment of Transsexual Persons
Electronic medical records and the transgender patient (2013)
2015 US Transgender Survey Report
CME Opportunities
*Additional info on obtaining CME credits for this article: https://www.nhchc.org/resources/publications/newsletters/healing-hands/healing-hands-winter-2015/