Sofia, 14.03.2022

The partners of the Open Doors project, run by universities and NGOs, conducted training for 692 health care professionals and medical students in five countries - Bulgaria, Spain, Hungary, Poland and Italy. The aims of the training were to increase knowledge about LGBTI health needs among health care professionals and medical students, to improve their attitudes towards LGBTI people, and to increase their skills to provide competent and inclusive healthcare for LGBTI people in Europe. The previously created training materials were adapted considering the local country contexts and levels of LGBTI equality.

The university of Girona did training for students from Medicine, Psychology, Nurse and Social work, as well as for professionals - midwives, obstetricians, gynaecologists, nurses, psychologists from the sexual and reproductive health care unit in Catalunya, Spain. 

Hatter organization in Hungary held the training for the staff of Bischitz Johanna Integrált Humán Szolgáltató Központ (BJIHSZK), the social services and healthcare provider of the 7th district of Budapest. The trainings for medical students were held for two medical student organizations: Korányi Frigyes Szakkolégium (KFSZ), one of the colleges of Semmelweis University and Budapesti Orvostanhallgatók Szövetsége (BOE), the organization of medical students in Budapest.

Poland had two trainings which were deliberately organised in smaller cities outside of Warsaw as the need of the healthcare professionals there was even larger. 

Overall in all the five countries the participants were very interested in the topics covered during the training and were satisfied with the training session, as reflected in the verbal feedback at the end of the training days and the evaluation forms.

According to the information provided in the evaluation forms from Bulgaria, 100% of the participants would recommend the training for others, 94% thought the training suited their professional needs, and 100% were satisfied with the trainers.

A recurring comment from the workshops was the need to organise further training days to explore other topics related to LGBTI health. A very positive result was the networking created among the participants who were eager to share their experiences and improve their practices.

Part of the activities of the project is an e-learning platform which could be used by any healthcare professional or students, offering the same level of in-depth training on the topics. This is a valuable asset of the project, which also included a report, providing insights into the understanding, attitudes, experience and training needs of health professionals, as well as social awareness videos. Тhey could be used as a great starting point and can be found in English here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DFdJw2XCNY&t=11s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PptUWcDM-Y 

Health care personnel seeking for more information could make use of the short guide, summarising the most important information on LGBTI health. The guide, available in different languages online at https://opendoorshealth.eu/en/outputs, includes an introduction to LGBTI terminology, a summary of the health needs of LGBTI people, and practical recommendations to avoid discrimination and create inclusive clinical spaces. 

The Open Doors: Promoting Inclusive and Competent Health Care for LGBTI People project is co-funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020). The participating organizations are Háttér, Bilitis and GLAS foundation, Università Degli Studi di Brescia (UNIBS), Universitat de Girona (UdG), Surt, Fundacio De Dones Fundacio Privada (SURT) and Lambda Warsaw.