Opinion: Dr. Deborah Tuffield and Advancing LGBTQ Health
In a year of fighting to pass the Equality Act, and plentiful conversations surrounding anti-trans legislation, the fight for LGBTQ equity, especially in realms like healthcare, is increasingly relevant today. Medical professionals in Colorado often have these conversations at the forefront of their work, ensuring that they do their part in bridging gaps in knowledge and advancing care to fit the needs of all people in need.
During the interview “Advancing LGBTQ Health and the role of AACN,” I chatted with Dr. Deborah Tuffield to discuss the work she has done for the LGBTQ community.
Dr. Deborah Tuffield is a professor of nursing at The University of Colorado Colorado Springs and a practicing nurse practitioner at UCCS HealthCircle Primary Care Clinic.
As an LGBTQ provider, Dr. Tuffield has experienced the challenges that come with caring for the LGBTQ community. These challenges are in relation to the refusal of coverage by insurance companies, lack of research specific to the transgender community, and the scarcity of knowledgeable providers willing to care for transgender individuals. According to Dr. Tuffield, “taking care of transgender individuals is not hard,” but we can’t expect individuals to provide sensitive competent care to a population in which they have never been exposed.
In order to combat the obvious knowledge gap in LGBTQ healthcare, Dr. Tuffield pioneered the Gender Health course at UCCS. This course was incorporated in the Graduate Nursing curriculum in order to give future providers the tools and knowledge to care for the LGBTQ community.
“In today’s world of limited access to healthcare in general, that really isn’t very fair to expect a transgender person who is perfectly healthy to have to go to a specialist to receive care.” Primary care is cheaper than seeing an endocrinologist and thus it only makes sense for LGBTQ health to be incorporated into the nurse practitioner curriculum.
Fortunately, the faculty at UCCS recognized the need to adapt the curriculum to the healthcare needs of today, but what about the institutions and legislative bodies that don’t see LGBTQ health as a priority?
“Right now, we already talk about how differences in race or even religion may have an impact on health. We address these things already, so if we are just going to turn a blind eye to how gender is going to affect health, that seems like you’re just putting your head in the sand.”
The transgender community has been under attack this legislative session in several states, and yet the healthcare community has remained silent. Perhaps we should start the conversation with how to ensure that all healthcare providers have the education to provide safe and equitable healthcare to the LGBTQ community, as is our duty as healthcare professionals.
If the accrediting bodies for the schools of nursing and medicine, The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and The Liaison Committee on Medical Education, were to set a precedent that LGBTQ health curriculum was a requirement across all levels of education, we might begin to see a shift in LGBTQ health.
In agreement with Dr. Tuffield, “My hope is that taking care of transgender individuals will become common place.”
Carly Baker RN, BSN
GNSA Liaison
The University of Colorado Colorado Springs
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Deborah S. Tuffield, DNP, APRN, FNP-C
Doctor of Nursing Practice Option Coordinator
Assistant Professor, Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth El College of Nursing and Health
Sciences
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Photo by Zackary Drucker as part of Broadly’s Gender Spectrum Collection. Credit: The Gender Spectrum Collection. Made available to media outlets via Creative Commons. No derivatives, no commercial use. See guidelines here: broadlygenderphotos.vice.com/guidelines
