Before entering the health professions, we were patients. We\nhave all been a patient first. And as a medical student in my preclinical\ntraining, the memories of being the vulnerable party are more salient than the\nknowledge conveyed by my big white coat. So, in this space, I am looking for\nthe training that will make patients like myself feel comforted and create an\nopen environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the lenses I bring to this perspective is that I am\nqueer. While learning about allergy and immunology, a memory resurfaces: the\ntime I went to the allergist and lied that I had a reaction after kissing my\n\u201cboyfriend,\u201d not my girlfriend, because I was afraid of discrimination or being\ndenied care. When learning about sexually transmitted infections, I wait to\nlearn about risks for queer patients to contrast my memory of hearing \u201clesbians\naren\u2019t at risk.\u201d And when talking about AIDS, I recall when a gay male friend\nhad mono and one of the first questions asked was \u201chow likely is it that you\ncould have HIV?\u201d so I listen for mention of any population besides gay men, but\nnope, it seems that they are the only ones who get this disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a queer patient but also a medical student, I look at\nmedical education for the moments that will make my generation better:\ninstructing us on how to make patients of all genders and sexualities feel\ncomfortable, teaching us correct information relevant to particular populations,\nand busting myths driven by a culture of systemic homophobia and transphobia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My experience as a queer patient informs my expectations in\nmedical education. And I had higher expectations. Instead, I was let down by\npractice questions that reinforce stereotypes, and complete lack of\nrepresentation of certain groups. And medical education translates into the\nexperience provided by health professionals, so, if I went with the flow, I\nwould become just another doctor who doesn\u2019t know the basics of queer health\nand, knowingly or unknowingly, provided inadequate care to a uniquely\nvulnerable population. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I decided to change that. With the help of a peer and an\nadvisor, I brought together resources to create a queer health curriculum\u2014a\n\u201cQueericulum.\u201d We created a series of\nonline modules consisting of primary resources and case-based scenarios to\nintroduce to medical students the breadth of LGBTQI+ patient and family issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I introduce this to FemInEM as both a hopeful future emergency medicine doctor and as a patient. As a patient, I want to know that I will not experience discrimination, mistreatment, or refusal of care. As a patient, I want to feel confident that my caregivers know about my unique needs, rather than having to teach them myself. As a patient, I want to know that everyone in the emergency department knows how to deal with my health concerns while treating me as a human being. And as a medical student, I am working to that happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Watch the full FIX18 talk below!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n