Addressing Health Care Disparities: Best Practices for LGBT Patients
By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor
Lawrence Johnson feeds his partner of 38 years, Alexendre Rheume. Rheume suffered from Parkinson’s dementia. Photo © Gen Silent documentary film / http://gensilent.com.
It’s arguably easier these days to identify as “queer”—lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). Our society has come a long way since 1969, when the infamous Stonewall riots and other events heralded the gay rights movement. Many LGBT people can live more openly and fully as who they are. Yet this population—which constitutes an estimated 5% to 10% of the U.S. population—continues to receive often substandard health care. In this month’s CE feature, “Addressing Health Care Disparities in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Population: A Review of Best Practices,” Fidelindo Lim and colleagues explore these disparities and explain why it’s important for nurses in all practice settings to know how to address them. Here’s a quick overview.
The health care needs of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) have received significant attention from policymakers in the last several years. Recent reports from the Institute of Medicine, Healthy People 2020, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality have all highlighted the need for such long-overdue attention. The health care disparities […]