Curriculum
Sharing LGBTQ+ Healthcare Best Practices
Howard Brown Health values education as a cornerstone of our mission to eliminate health disparities experienced by LGBTQ+ people of all ages. We are committed to provide best practices, informed by community, based on research, evidence and learned experiences.
Howard Brown’s education team offers professional development for healthcare providers and care team members who are interested increasing their capacity to serve LGBTQ+ patients in their workplaces. We offer our current educational modules and are able to provide custom curricula to meet your team needs. Our versatile presentation staff are able to support multi-disciplinary audiences in health care and in allied support teams. Finally, we partner with Rush University Inter-Professional Continuing Education (IPCE) office to deliver continuing education credit in most cases. For more information and to discuss our fee schedule please contact education@howardbrown.org.
Transgender and Gender Diverse Essentials
This foundational module covers topics including: TGD essential terminology, medical myths and misconceptions, gender appropriate language, pronoun practice, sentence structure, and gendered language in care settings, TGD standards of care and how to create affirming environments of care. Upon completion of this module, learners will be able to; define foundational terminology, explain necessity of cultural humility in working with TGD people, demonstrate skills appropriate for TGD patients, clients and co-workers and plan methods to incorporate best practices.
Gender Appropriate Language
In this module learners will acquire skills and best practices to communicate in ways that are affirming to TGD patients, including mitigating the traumatic effects of misgendering patients. Misgendering means referring to someone using a word, pronoun or other form of address that does not correctly reflect the gender with which they identify. Additional topics included are based on healthy equity approaches for health care and creating welcoming environments. Resources included direct learners to invest personal time to reflect and elevate their level of cultural humility. Upon completion of this module, learners will be able to: understand trauma informed care, begin to dismantle the gender binary, define misgendering as trauma, gain skills to practice asking about pronouns, plan methods to incorporate best practices and develop approaches to health equity for transgender and gender nonconforming people.
Nurse’s Health Education about LGBT Elders (HEALE)
Aging LGBTQ+ adults experience compounded disparities and multiple barriers to high quality health care. As a result, nurses and providers who provide direct care require additional expertise to meet their needs. In response, Howard Brown Health experts developed the Nurses’ HEALE series, a 6-hour cultural competency curriculum consisting of the following main topics:
- An Introduction to LGBTQ+ Elders
- Health Disparities and Barriers to Care
- Sex and Sexuality in for LGBTQ+ Older Adults
- Legal and Financial Barriers to Care
- Transgender and Gender Diverse Elders
- HIV and Aging
The HEALE curriculum was made possible through a collaborative partnership with Rush University’s Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program of Illinois (GWEP-I), funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
CORE Four
Howard Brown offers four foundational courses tailored to health care providers and care teams interested in learning more about working with LGBTQ+ people in their institutions.
- Foundations of Care: Working with Patients who Identify as LGBTQ+
This course reviews sexual orientation and gender identity basics as well as common barriers to care that impact LGBTQ+ people. Upon completion, providers and their care teams will be able to outline common social determinants of health and disparities in care experienced by LGBTQ people. - Foundations of Care: Working with Transgender and Gender Diverse (TGD) Patients
Foundations of care for patients who identify as TGD reviews gender identity basics, offering strategies to help patients feel comfortable healthcare settings. This course reviews transphobia in clinic settings and disparities in care experienced by TGD people. - Gender Appropriate Language: Practical Skill Development
We know that patient-centered practice keeps patients engaged in their care. This course empowers providers, care teams, and allied health professionals to work with patients who identify across the gender spectrum in their clinic settings. This is a dynamic course, structured so that providers can practice new strategies to use in their clinic settings - Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Data Collection: Best Practices and Skill Development
Many people are afraid to talk about sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) because fear saying the wrong thing. This course will empower health care providers and care teams to ask patients about their sexual orientation and gender identity. In addition, our SOGI course offers an overview of strategies for collecting these data in electronic medical records and reviews best practices for quality improvement programs.