Medical Students' Preparedness to Discuss Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Other (LGBTQ+) Patient-Related Topics: A Survey Study.

How well do doctors know their patients? Is the future generation of doctors prepared for real-world patient encounters? Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other (LGBTQ+) patients are disproportionately affected by a wide range of health issues, and many of these patients face barriers and stigma when accessing healthcare. Our research aimed to explore the awareness current medical students hold toward some of the health disparities faced by LGBTQ+ patients. Second-year medical students at our institution filled out a survey following their standardized patient exams to examine how prepared they felt to diagnose and treat a patient self-identifying as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.