Approximately 9 per cent of Australian adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, pansexual, intersex, asexual, or ‘other’ (LGBTQIA+). Members of the LGBTQIA+ community are known to be at increased risk for certain cancers, late diagnosis of cancer, and lower quality of care due to stigma, cultural insensitivity, and lack of health care provider awareness to LGBTQIA+ healthcare needs.
Sexual orientation, gender identity and preferred name (SGN) information is important to provide inclusive, safe and patient- and family-centred cancer care. Staff at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac) will be able to document gender identity, sexual orientation, pronouns, and preferred name in the Parkville electronic medical record (EMR), a system shared with The Royal Children’s Hospital, The Royal Melbourne Hospital and The Royal Women’s Hospital, enabling quality and seamless healthcare for LGBTQIA+ patients across the Parkville precinct in Melbourne, Victoria. Administrative and clinical staff will have access to view and edit patients’ SGN information in the EMR, and patients can also update some SGN demographic fields through the patient portal.
In addition to EMR functionality training, staff will undertake a tailored education program called Safe to Speak, Safe to Ask, focussing on LGBTQIA+ cultural competence and sensitivity skills to encourage safe discussions for SGN information.
Culturally competent SGN data collection for patients will improve the quality of care for LGBTQIA+ patients at Peter Mac.