Anesthesia Providers' Discovery of Patients' Gender Identity

Abstract

Multiple studies show that transgender patients face disparities in healthcare and delay seeking treatment due to fear of discrimination, stigma, and lack transgender competency among healthcare providers. Transgender patients can be considered invisible and therefore increased provider competency may not appear warranted, but current research suggests otherwise Purpose: The purpose of this project is twofold: 1) to review the currently employed methods of how CRNAs obtain gender identity information, and 2) determine how CRNAs perceive the need to deliver competent and compassionate anesthesia care to the transgender patient. Setting: The setting for administering the survey was determined by the respondents. Participants The participants of the study consisted of CRNAs. Participants were recruited through a purchased listserv from the American Association of Nurse Anesthetist. Methods A non-experimental, quantitative descriptive methodology was employed to explore the potential need to increase transgender awareness in the preoperative setting Results: The number of surveys distributed via the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists was 1,000 with 45 surveys completed. Findings conclude that gender identity information is discovered through the medical record over 60% of the time and that most CRNAs are not comfortable asking patients about their gender identity. The open-text question asking CRNAs to provide a few words discussing the importance of the issue yielded four commonalities: (1) it matters; (2) just let me do my job; (3) not important; and (4) potentially stigmatizing, Conclusions: Although anesthesia providers learn about gender identity through the medical record, this disconnect and level of discomfort in asking tough questions further removes the CRNA from developing a more trusting and respectful relationship during the perioperative period. Evidence from the survey establishes the need to increase cultural competency and training among anesthesia providers regarding the transgender community. However, the open-ended responses provided by the participants exposed potentially stigmatizing content and does not exemplify the standardized educational framework which are discussed in The Essentials for each degree in nursing (AACN, 2008; AACN, 2011).