Patient vs provider perspectives concerning medical relevance and recognition of sexual orientation and gender identity data
| Patient perspective: SO/GI relevant regardless of specific medical concern | Provider perspective: SO/GI not relevant unless there are reproductive system concerns |
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Representative quotations “I’m fine if they…ask me. You know, I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable, and honestly, I would feel like if they are trying to treat me that it’s really their business to know". -Bisexual cisgender man "Gender identity is relevant in terms of it takes medical steps for me to live as who I am". -Queer transgender man "The relevancy…why is this so relevant? …you’ve got to ask the questions (about SO/GI) to everybody because you don’t know them". -Heterosexual cisgender man |
Representative quotations “If I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t even broach on (SO and GI) unless they brought it up…unless it affected some care that I was going to give them, that’s their business". -ED nurse ‘The question is not always a relevant one for each individual patient'. -ED physician “(SO/GI) doesn’t factor into anything that I need to do so I don’t need to know it…it’s not relevant to anything we do". -ED nurse "So if (SO/GI) is not clinically relevant, I wouldn’t ask it". -ED physician |
| Patient perspective: SO and GI disclosure facilitates patient-provider rapport and is crucial for patient-centred care | Provider perspective: value treating all patients the same regardless of SO and GI |
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Representative quotations “You cannot treat everybody the same, everybody is different, okay? That’s like having more than one child. You can’t treat each child the same, you have to treat them according to who they are". -Bisexual cisgender woman “You are supposed to have this psychosocially supportive relationship (between providers and patients). How can you do that if you don’t know who this person is and where they are coming from?" -Lesbian cisgender woman |
Representative quotations “But as far as treating a patient whether they’re gay, lesbian, bisexual for an STD, I’m going to treat them the same way as a straight person with an STD". -ED nurse “We’re humans. Even though this is our sexual orientation, does that make you get less care or more care than me? Or different care? …I don’t see it making a difference in the care that somebody is going to get". -ED nurse |
GI, gender identity; SO, sexual orientation.