Health info of transgender patients warrants 'special attention'

Clinicians who deal with the unique needs of transgender patients should use electronic health records differently than they do for non-transgendered patients, according to a recent perspective piece by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) EHR Workgroup published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. For instance, the authors say, while transgendered patients may use a different name and gender identity from their current legally assigned name and gender, today's EHRs are not designed to capture both sets of information.

The workgroup recommends that EHR users utilize a two-step process to capture both sex assigned at birth and gender identity. The workgroup also recommends that clinicians electronically capture preferred pronouns, common treatments and procedures for transgendered patients and the status of a person's transition and anatomy. Abstract