Sitting on an exam table in a flimsy gown can intimidate anyone. If you also happen to be lesbian, gay or bisexual, the experience can be even worse.
As a woman of sexual minority, Nicole Flemmer has encountered medical misinformation and false assumptions. She was once diagnosed with "ego dystonic homosexuality" - a long-discredited term - without her knowledge or an appropriate discussion with the doctor. She discovered the notation years later when she happened to glance at her medical chart.
Such experiences left her hesitant to access health care and afraid to be honest with caregivers.
Today Flemmer, a family nurse practitioner in Seattle, is working with educators at Washington State University Vancouver to alleviate similar distress in others.
A paper detailing their work was published in The Journal for Nurse Practitioners in September and presented at the international conference for the Society for Clinical Nurse Specialist Educators in Vancouver, BC in October.
[For more of this story go to http://medicalxpress.com/news/...-bisexual-women.html]
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