A novel online training program for sexual and gender minority health increases allyship in cisgender, heterosexual paramedics.

Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) make up 4% of the Canadian population. Due to existing barriers to care in the community, SGM patients may seek more help and be sicker at presentation to hospital. Paramedics occupy a unique role and can remove or decrease these barriers. There are no existing evaluations of training programs in SGM health for prehospital providers. A training program to develop better allyship in paramedics toward SGM populations was developed and assessed. A 70- to 90-min mandatory, asynchronous, online training module in SGM health in the prehospital environment was developed and delivered via the emergency medical service (EMS) system's learning management system. A before-and-after study of cisgender, heterosexual, frontline paramedics was performed to measure the impact of the training module on the care of SGM patients. The validated Ally Identity Measure (AIM) tool was used to identify success of training and includes subscales of knowledge and skills, openness and support, and oppression awareness. Demographics and satisfaction scores were collected in the posttraining survey. Matched and unmatched pairs of surveys and demographic associations were analyzed using nonparametric statistics. Of 609 paramedics, 571 completed the training, and 239 surveys were completed before and 105 ( A novel prehospital training program in the care of SGM patients resulted in a statistically significant increase in allyship in cisgender, heterosexual-identified frontline paramedics.

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© 2024 The Authors. AEM Education and Training published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.