Fair Care: Nurses ensure oncology services meet needs of LGBT community

[w8liftinglady]

http://news.nurse.com/article/20110725/NATIONAL01/307250017/-1/frontpage

Cancer does not discriminate. Whether a patient is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, the care he or she receives shouldn't be discriminatory either. Yet the March 2011 Institute of Medicine report "The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding," highlighted disparities in the care LGBT patients receive.

Because of the bias they experience in the healthcare setting, members of the LGBT community tend to seek care at a much lower rate, according to a report conducted by the New York City Public Advocate's Office. Although some LGBT patients had good experiences when seeking healthcare, the results were uneven enough for the 2008 report to provide a list of recommendations for healthcare practitioners. Cultural competency training of all healthcare practitioners was first on the list.

In a recent announcement, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation shared its plan to provide competency training for all 38,000 employees systemwide in a commitment to provide better care for this population, including those with cancer.


According to Liz Margolies, LCSW, founder and executive director of the National LGBT Cancer Network in New York City, the LGBT population is at greater risk for cancer, not as result of difference in physiology, but lifestyle behaviors. "They smoke at nearly twice the national rate and use drugs and alcohol at higher rates," she said. "Lesbians are less likely to have had a biological child before age 30. They also have high body mass index. Gay men have high incidences of HPV, which is linked to multiple cancers, including anal cancer."

[William769]

1. Also Even though AIDS is not a Gay disease, It is high amongst gay men.

And people with AIDS have a very high rate of cancer's than anyone else.

I hope what I just said was coherent.