Little time devoted to lesbian health in ob.gyn. training. (55% of Programs Offer no Training).

SAN FRANCISCO -- Many ob.gyn. residents are receiving no formal training in lesbian health issues during their residency, a survey of program directors found.

Responses to mailed questionnaires by 119 (42%) of 283 ob.gyn. training program directors showed that 55% of the programs provided no training in lesbian health, 32% offered 1-2 hours of training, and 13% provided 3 or more hours of training in lesbian health. Most directors felt the mean 1.8 hours devoted to lesbian health is inadequate, Dr. Paula Amato said at a conference sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association.

A total of 81 program directors rated their lesbian health training as less than adequate, 77 agreed that their lesbian health curriculum needs expansion, and 108 indicated interest in receiving a copy of lesbian health curriculum guidelines.

Some expressed concern about time constraints in expanding the curriculum, said Dr. Amato, who conducted the research at the University of California, San Diego, and is now at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston.

Forty-one percent of programs with some lesbian health training utilized a lecture format, 19% used seminars or small group discussions, 6% employed panel discussions, 5% showed a video, and 2% used simulated patient encounters.

A total of 107 of the surveyed programs were located in the United States, 2 were in Puerto Rico, and 9 were in Canada. The programs trained a mean of 20 residents each. Sixty-six were university-based programs, 49 were based in community hospitals, and 1 program encompassed both settings.

An Institute of Medicine report in 1999 identified barriers that lesbians ...