4. Mental health and addictions
- Date: 2024-10-24
- Concurrent Session: Concurrent Session B
- Time: 3:45– 4:30 pm
- Room:
- Style: Presentation (information provided to audience, with opportunity for audience to ask question)
- Focus: Balance between both (e.g. Presentation of a best-practice guideline that combines research evidence, policy issues and practical steps for implementation)
- Target Audience: Leadership (ED, clinical lead, board chair, board member, etc.) Clinical providers Administrative staff Representatives of stakeholder/partner organizations
Learning Objectives:
Participants will learn:
- Describe what Ontario Health Quality Standards are, their development, and how to access them.
- Identify improvement opportunities in their own practice to improve gender-affirming care for gender-diverse adults.
- Access useful tools and resources for use in clinical practice and to share with gender-diverse people.
Summary/Abstract:
This session will provide an overview of the Gender-Affirming Care for Gender-Diverse People: Care for Adults quality standard. Participants will learn about key opportunities to improve care for gender-diverse people, and practical tools and resources to support implementation. Significant opportunities exist to improve gender-affirming care in Ontario. The 2021 Canadian census indicated that approximately 1 in 300 people in Ontario identified as transgender or nonbinary, and the need for gender-related care within the primary care system is growing. Gender-diverse people face barriers to accessing health care and experience lower rates of health screening compared to cisgender people. Surveys of gender-diverse people suggest they experience marginalization and discrimination that negatively affect the quality of care they receive in emergency departments, primary care, and other health care settings. This session will focus on five evidence-based opportunities to improve care outlined in the quality standard, including: gender-affirming education and training for health care teams; gender-affirming primary care; gender-affirming hormone therapy; gender-affirming mental health care; and gender-affirming health care environments. Primary care clinicians have an essential role to play in delivering this care. Resources accompanying the quality standard include a clinical placemat to help equip clinicians with the skills and knowledge necessary to provide gender-affirming care in a quick reference format, and a patient guide to empower gender-diverse people to advocate for themselves as they interact with the health care system. The goal of this standard is to support improvements in gender-affirming care and the primary care needs of gender-diverse adults in Ontario.
Presenter:
- Erin Ziegler, Associate Professor, Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing, Toronto Metropolitan University Nurse Practitioner, Queen Square Family Health Team
- Sarah McTavish Lead, Clinical and Quality Standards Ontario Health