Without affordable, accessible health care, it is impossible to provide equitable care for everyone. In this Q&A, Emma Furth, MD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Perelman School of Medicine, discusses how an increase in diversity and better understanding can have a vital impact on providing care for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
In your experience, how does the LGBTQ+ community interact with health care? What obstacles do they face?
The community interacts similarly to other communities and faces similar challenges including access to affordable care. Navigating a complex system is at times difficult for everyone and not restrictive to a single community. On the other hand, the transgender community faces definite obstacles in terms of access to specialized health care providers. With the passage of the CARES Act giving patients access to the entire medical data, transgender patients and healthcare providers may be confused by their laboratory values. For example, the laboratory values flagged as abnormal are based upon a reference range. If this reference range does not account for the new gender identity, values will be flagged as abnormal when in fact they may be normal reflecting gender-affirming hormonal treatment.
How can healthcare providers in the U.S. get a better understanding of the needs of LGBTQ+ patients in order to provide better health care?
Increasing lines of open and safe communication is key. Communication with patients is critical; however, communication and education among physicians and the healthcare team is vital. Increasing diversity in all areas of health care will be important. Our pathology department has recognized that issues and challenges exist and they have begun to address the above-mentioned problems with having access to appropriate reference ranges.
Tell us about your own personal experiences as an LGBTQ+ person in health care and how has it affected your career and education?
Creating safe spaces for conversation and opening dialogues to have difficult conversations concerning the community particularly with relationship to our faculty has been important to me. Our medical school leadership supports these efforts and helped us establish several years ago an organization for faculty.
What challenges have you encountered around increasing diversity and inclusion?
We, fortunately, are in a place where we have increased awareness of the challenges. How to transform this awareness into actionable items and accomplished goals is a conundrum. We need to turn ideas into concrete actions. We need to empower everyone.
What is the single most important change a healthcare system can make to improve LGBTQ+ medical care?
Increase diversity.
Why do you think it is important for healthcare systems to recognize LGBTQ+ specific healthcare needs?
There are health issues specific to the transgender community. Affordability and access are more universal challenges for everyone. Microaggressions continue to impact the well-being of our patients and health care team. These continued actions which are mostly born out of ignorance have an erosive effect on everyone which mitigates optimal mental health and healthcare delivery.
To read more Q&As with members of the LGBTQ+ community, click
here.
