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Hospitals show major improvements to LGBTQ-inclusive care

Nurse Leader Insider, April 5, 2018

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According to a report released by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), healthcare facilities in the U.S. have showed “remarkable progress” in transgender-specific patient policies, transgender-inclusive benefits for employees, and LGBTQ-patient-care training for staff.

The organization’s annual Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) surveyed and researched 1,600 healthcare facilities, studying metrics such as nondiscrimination policies, patient services, staff training, and employee benefits at facilities that included hospitals, health clinics, student health centers, and long-term care centers.

The HEI found that there was almost 100% adoption of LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination policies, and significant improvements in LGBTQ-inclusive care at more than 600 facilities, especially for transgender patients. For instance, the HRC found more than 70,000 hours of staff training in LGBTQ patient-centered care at participating facilities, with a third of those hours being transgender-specific training.
“This year has ushered in a new high watermark in LGBTQ inclusion in health care,” according to HRC Campaign President Chad Griffin.

But the HRC also warns that there are still significant obstacles when it comes to LGBTQ healthcare, especially with what Griffin calls an “all-out assaults” on LGBTQ rights “from the highest levels of government.” So while there is no federal requirement of LGBTQ inclusive care, Tari Hanneman, the director of HRC’s Health Equality Project, encourages facilities to create their own nondiscrimination policies.

“It is more important than ever for these institutions of everyday living to step up and provide these nondiscrimination protections to their patients and their employees,” she said.

Source: NBC News
 

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