Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

14 PATIENT SAFETY & OUTCOMES for out of state, but she has social circumstances which seem to make that untenable." In Indiana, a physician was reprimanded and fined $3,000 for talking about an abortion for a 10-year-old. More physicians and residents said they refuse to practice and train in states with abortion bans. June 2023: In a survey of more than 500 OB-GYNs, 70 percent said the Roe reversal worsened racial and ethnic disparities in maternal health, and more than half of respondents said Dobbs has negatively affected the ability to attract new OB-GYNs to the specialty. One in 4 respondents said they had patients unable to obtain an abortion they sought, the survey found, and 55 percent reported an increase in the share of patients seeking contraception since the ruling, particularly sterilization (43 percent) and IUDs and implants (47 percent). In a June 23 statement, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine said: "June 24, 2022, was a dark day in our nation's history. In one fell swoop, the U.S. Supreme Court took the sudden, unprecedented act of removing a key constitutional protection for American citizens. e right to reproductive autonomy has long been viewed, by most Americans and the law, as a fundamental right." n Texas Children's to end transgender care By Paige Twenter T exas Children's Hospital will stop offering hormone therapy and other transgender care, according to the Houston Chronicle and ABC affiliate KTRK. In anticipation of a Texas bill — which aims to curb gender-transition care — becoming law, Texas Children's CEO Mark Wallace told employees the hospital will cease providing some transgender care services within the next few months, according to an email sent May 24 and obtained by the news outlets. The hospital is one of two Texas facilities part of an attorney general investigation based on allegations of providers "unlawfully performing" gender-transition procedures. In the email, Mr. Wallace said "we will work with patients and their families to manage the discontinuation of hormone therapies or source appropriate care outside of Texas," according to KTRK. The hospital said it plans to continue offering psychological care that complies with state laws. The bill was sent to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's desk on May 19. n Trans individuals' ER visits more likely to result in admittance: Report By Ashleigh Hollowell T ransgender individuals' emergency department visits are 52.4 percent more likely to result in hospital admittance, and they are often more ill when they show up to ERs than their cisgender counterparts, according to researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Researchers analyzed information on 66,382 ER visits by transgender patients between 2006 and 2018 from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample database. Data were adjusted for payment, age group, region, income and mental health conditions. There were "significant differences" in the findings between transgender patients and cisgender patients, they wrote. Here are four other notable findings from the study: • 58.2 percent of ED visits made by transgender individuals were related to chronic conditions compared to 19.2 percent for cisgender patients. • 28.7 percent of transgender patients visiting an ED had a mental health condition, compared to 3.9 percent for cisgender patients. • Hospital admittance following an ED visit for a chronic condition concern was likely to occur for 67.3 percent of transgender patients, and 41.3 percent for cisgender patients. • Hospital admittance following an ED visit for a mental health concern was likely to occur for 37.2 percent of transgender individuals compared to just 5.3 percent for cisgender people. "Our findings suggest that decreasing discrimination against transgender people in society and in health care, and improving the outpatient care they are able to access in the community, may keep them healthier and help them avoid visits to the ER," Daphna Stroumsa, MD, lead author of the study from the University of Michigan said in a statement. "Improving access to transgender- friendly health care can improve the health of this population, and help decrease the burden on emergency rooms and hospitals." However, with continued legislation nationwide that targets the elimination of some healthcare services for transgender individuals, in reaction to the findings from the study, Os Keyes, a PhD candidate at the University of Washington who was not part of the study, but researches transgender healthcare, medical technology, gender and sexuality, and race and equity, told Becker's they agree with the researchers interpretations, but "would like to hear concretely what researchers propose doing about it." "We have a lot of research demonstrating the need for less discrimination and improvements in how doctors treat trans people," they said, but "it's simultaneously safe to say now is not a time when 'less' is the direction that the discrimination is going in." n

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