Transgender Training for Healthcare Professionals

   The video “We Are Here: A Transgender Training Video for Healthcare Professionals” produced by the Mandala Center for Change addresses the lack of training for medical professionals in the field of transgender individuals, in this case, using this as an umbrella term. The video uses stories of a transgender man, a transgender woman, a person born intersex, and a person who identifies as non-binary in contact with medical professionals. Each of their experiences reveal the ignorance, rudeness, and lack of understanding that non-cisgender people experience with medical professionals every time they visit the doctor. This includes ignoring pronouns, having to “choose” a gender, a lack of knowledge about the unique medical care that intersex and transgender individuals require, and a lack of resources for the LGBTQIA+ community. ​

     The video reveals that our training of medical professionals lacks education about the unique experiences and medical needs of non-cisgender people which makes going to the doctor a burden rather than the healthy, positive experience that it should be. Training on both social and medical issues surrounding gender should be required in medical school in order to make doctors more accepting, competent, and accommodating to the specific needs of non-cisgender individuals. Using the correct pronouns, not making a spectacle of their differences, and having the specific knowledge necessary to provide health care for transgender and intersex individuals are key ways to improving their experiences. Not having this medical training, endangers transgender individuals because they will avoid seeking medical care and when they do decide to go, work with professionals not trained to help them.