A critical evaluation of how radiography can best meet the needs of the transgender community.
Title of Project:
A critical evaluation of how radiography can best meet the needs of the transgender community.
Outline of project: The aim of this project is to conduct a literature review into how radiography can best meet the needs of the transgender community. This will include the social issues associated with the transgender community and the implications this has for the quality of care delivered by radiographers. This research will also explore the idea of additional training for radiographers surrounding this area. Any research completed regarding this topic in radiology will be explored and evaluated as well as specific policies and procedures. A literature review will be conducted by searching databases for relevant articles using specific criteria to carry out this research.
Background information: Transgender individuals have an assigned sex at birth that is different to their gender identity (Reisner et al., 2015). Bolderston and Ralph (2016) highlighted that the transgender community experiences systematic discrimination in institutions such as health care, despite the increase of social tolerance and legislative progress. They also highlighted that there is a need for better training for radiographers to be able to sensitively respond to these patients’ specific health and social needs. The Society of Radiographers (2019) highlighted in their code of professional conduct that radiographers must practice in a compassionate, antidiscriminatory manner and must consider the social and cultural differences of individuals This could be very interesting and is becoming quite a hot topic You may not find too much directly linked to Radiography but you can look in medicine and nursing You will need to think of a search strategy but I will help you with this whilst ensuring that vulnerable groups, such as the transgender community, are protected. Familiarity of health care professionals with transgender related issues and terminology has shown to improve the experiences of these individuals when in a healthcare environment (Kirkpatrick et al., 2019). Therefore it is imperative to educate radiographers on healthcare concerns unique to the transgender population otherwise they are at a great disadvantage when striving for high quality patient care (Grossman, 2016). Therefore additional training should be advised in order for the staff to work competently when caring for these individuals. Concepts such as intake forms which allow a patient to confirm their gender identity, preferred name, pronoun and any surgical treatment they may have had (Sonnenblick et al., 2018). This will aid the radiographer optimise patient care whilst embracing diversity and being culturally sensitive. Radiographers can help achieve equitable patient care by providing a welcoming environment and staying up-to-date with the rapidly changing recommendations related to transgender patients (Sowinski and Gunderman, 2018). All of the above will help radiographer’s meet the needs of transgender patients. The primary aim of this research is to evaluate the how radiography can best meet the needs of the transgender community. All aspects of this will be explored, from all ethical issues to the affect this has on the patient’s pathway. 5. Plan of investigation, including research design/method The method of research will be a systematic literature review. I will use databases to search predetermined keywords in order to view the most relevant articles. This will help answer the title question. 6. Population I will use the databases recommended under the health and social care aspect of the UWE website. These will include; British Nursing Database, CINAHL Plus (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), Cochrane Library, EMBASE, healthtalk.org, MEDLINE and NICE evidence. I will use inclusion and exclusion criteria to search for the best articles. Inclusion Criteria Exclusion Criteria Justification Published research Unpublished research Published research will be included to ensure the research is reliable and valid. English Language Foreign Language Articles published in a foreign language will not be included because of time constraints due to needing to translate. Articles published after 2010 Articles published before 2010 Only articles published after 2010 will be included to ensure that it is relevant and up-to-date due to regulations surrounding the topic constantly changing. Articles directly related to radiology Articles related to other healthcare professions This is to ensure that the question is answered. Each healthcare profession adopts a different approach to challenges so by only including radiology specific articles I can directly compare the content. I will also research offline when possible by visiting the library for relevant books and journals. 7. Ethical consideration The ethical considerations are minimal when conducting a literature review as it is not a primary form of research. I will not be in direct contact with any of the participants of the studies I will be evaluating. However, I do need to approach the topic sensitively and consult ethical guidelines when necessary. 9. Supporting References Bolderston, A. and Ralph, S. (2016) Improving the Health Care Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Patients. Radiography [online]. 22 (3), pp. 207-211. [Accessed 22 May 2019]. Grossman, V. (2016) Providing Quality Care to the Transgender Patient in the Radiology Setting. Journal of Radiology Nursing [online]. 35 (3), pp. 218-266. [Accessed 22 May 2019]. Kirkpatrick, D., Stowell, J., Grimstad, F., Brown, E., Fishback, S. and Lemons, S. (2019) Creating a Transgender-inclusive Interventional Radiology Department. Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology [online]. 30 (6), pp. 928-931. [Accessed 22 May 2019]. Reisner, S., Bradford, J., Gonzalez, A., Makadon, H., Todisco, D., Cavanaugh, T., Vanderwarker, R., Grasso, C., Zaslow, S., Boswell, S., Mayer, R. and Hopwood, R. (2015) Comprehensive Transgender Healthcare: The Gender Affirming Clinical and Public Health Model of Fenway Health. Journal of Urban Health [online]. 92 (3), pp. 584-592. [Accessed 22 May 2019]. Sonnenblick, E., Shah, A., Goldstein, Z. and Reisman, T. (2018) Breast Imaging of Transgender Individuals: A Review. Current Radiology Reports [online]. 6 (1) [Accessed 22 May 2019]. Sowinski, J. and Gunderman, R. (2018) Transgender Patients: What Radiologists Need to Know. American Journal of Roentgenology [online]. 210 (5), pp. 1106-1110. [Accessed 29 April 2019]. The Society of Radiographers (2019) Section 1: Relationships with Patients and Carers. Available from: https://www.sor.org/learning/document-library/code-professional-conduct/section- 1-relationships-patients-and-carers#1-2-you-must-practise-in-an-anti-discriminatory-manner-givingcompassionate-care-that-takes-account-of-socio-cultural-differences-and-ensuring-that-children-theelderly-and-other-vulnerable-groups-are-protected-[Accessed 22 May 2019].
