UND Today

University of North Dakota’s Official News Source

Grand Rounds series has grand goals

Grand Rounds lectures by resident physicians serve practitioners in every health care field

In early March, as part of the Grand Rounds series in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, second-year resident Dr. Kevin McDonald gave a lecture about providing care to transgender individuals. Photo by Dima Williams/UND Today.

Dr. Kevin McDonald, a second-year student in the psychiatry residency training program at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences, learned about the issue through his interactions with patients. Transgender individuals often mistrust their medical providers, who may lack the knowledge and sensitivity to treat them.

He reviewed medical studies where “transgender participants report discriminatory and insensitive treatment,” he said. One report stated that the majority of transgender patients actually had to teach their providers about the issues they face – from social challenges to medical and mental health  problems – as a marginalized group in society.

Thus, in early March, McDonald presented an hour-long lecture titled “Healthcare Provider Considerations for Transgender Individuals.”

He had decided he could help – by educating his peers.

After all, that is the goal of the Grand Rounds lecture series in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Studies.

The series gives physicians in their second, third and fourth year of residency training in psychiatry the chance to not only explore topics of interest, but also share their newfound knowledge with other residents and medical professionals.

“It is important for the residency program to promote a spirit of inquiry and scholarship,” said James Roerig, psychiatry professor and faculty organizer of the Grand Rounds program at the Department. “It is also highly desirable that psychiatrists be able to educate other professionals.”

Together with Robert Olson, director of the resident psychiatry program, Roerig revived the Grand Rounds in 2014 to supplement the community iteration of the event, which sees outside professionals share their expertise with students.

For months before the date of the presentation, Roerig guides each resident in his or her selection of a theme and of a discussant, or a faculty member who can add further nuance to the topic.

The subject matter, Roerig said, “could be a case they ran into in their clinic or on inpatient service. It could be a diagnostic issue. It could be a treatment issue that they might want to talk about.”

Able to attend both in person and online, medical practitioners from around the state can earn continuing education credits through the Grand Rounds lecture series. Photo by Dima Williams/UND Today.

To an audience of about 60 attending both online as well as in person in the auditorium in UND’s Southeast Campus in Fargo, McDonald talked about both the medical and social realities of transgender people. These include the disconnect they experience between their bodies and their identities, the pronouns they prefer, the offensive interactions some of them go through with doctors and the snafus they encounter with health insurance, surgeries and treatments.

For one, “we have learned gender identity pronouns are important for individuals to feel safe and understood,” he said.

Another snippet McDonald shared: “Studies show that after treatment with hormone therapy, overall life quality increases. But there’s not enough data to show whether it’s the hormones themselves, or if it is the fact of transitioning to becoming more comfortable with their outer appearance and sense of gender.”

Basing his lecture on a variety of studies and statistics, McDonald had one overarching message for healthcare providers serving transgender patients: show respect, compassion and keenness to learn more about them.

At the end of McDonald’s presentation, Danial Sturgill, a clinical assistant professor of psychology and psychotherapy and psychologist with Sanford Health in Moorhead, Minn., took the podium to wrap up the topic and help the psychiatry resident answer questions from the audience.

“I really have a lot of respect for Dr. McDonald taking on this topic, because he has a patient who has some concern, and he wants to learn more,” Sturgill said.

Learning together

In service to the medical community around the state, the Grand Rounds series – which run in different departments in the SMHS, from psychiatry to surgery – offers continuing education credits to practitioners who attend.

All bundled together, the lectures offer an interactive, scholarship-focused means for residents to learn and teach; for clinicians to stay current in their fields; and for SMHS faculty to assist students and professionals alike.