Disclosures: Alice Ye, MD: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: To determine residents’ experience and comfort in caring for women’s health (WH) and transgender health (TH) musculoskeletal (MSK) concerns.

Design: Cross-sectional surveySetting : Accredited Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) residency programs in the United StatesParticipants : PM&R residents

Interventions: N/A

Main Outcome Measures: Self-reported topic exposure on binary scales and comfort level on 5-point Likert scale

Results: PM&R residents were asked to complete a 20-item survey, resulting in 291 completed responses (20.1% response rate of 1,451 total residents, estimated 25.4% response rate for non-intern residents). Results show that 85.6% of residents have had previous exposure to WH MSK topics and only 5.8% of residents have had previous exposure to TH MSK topics. Majority of respondents do not feel comfortable caring for patients with WH or TH MSK concerns (81.1%, 90.4% respectively). Respondents would like more exposure to WH and TH MSK topics (88.3%, 95.9%), believe having a WH and TH MSK curriculum is important (87.6%, 77.3%), and would consider incorporating WH and TH MSK concerns into their future practices (87.3%, 83.9%). Only a minority of respondents could identify a physiatrist who addresses WH or TH MSK concerns (38.5%, 5.8%).Conclusions: This study demonstrates a gap in PM&R residency training for WH and TH MSK concerns. The majority of PM&R residents in this survey indicate a desire to gain more experience and comfort in both WH and TH MSK topics, yet they report having a lack of WH/TH physiatry mentors and curricula available to foster this education. These results support a movement toward inclusive musculoskeletal training in physiatry residency programs that includes WH and TH topics. These findings may support development of a formalized, national curriculum that could be used at all residency training programs. Broadening the scope of MSK training to be more inclusive will ultimately broaden healthcare access for women and transgender patients.

Level of Evidence: Level IV

« Back to AAPM&R Annual Assembly 2021

PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/practicing-inclusive-medicine-residency-training-in-womens-and-transgender-musculoskeletal-health/