Sex and Gender Specific Health Curriculum
Program Overview
The Ìð¹ÏÊÓƵ Sex and Gender Specific Health Curriculum Program (SGSH) began in the School of Medicine in 2010. The overarching goal of the project is to integrate sex and gender difference evidence into existing curricula, both internal and external to Ìð¹ÏÊÓƵ. The SGSH educational products are available via the .
The SGSH educational products are open access and freely available to Ìð¹ÏÊÓƵ faculty as well as outside institutions. Please contact sgsh@ttuhsc.edu for more information.
The Sex and Gender Specific Health Curriculum Program is funded by the .
Task Force
The SGSH Task Force was appointed by Chancellor Mitchell to act as an institutional-level, multidisciplinary group comprised of faculty representing each Ìð¹ÏÊÓƵ School. This group works closely with the SGSH Curriculum Program, the main purpose of which is the creation of SGSH educational materials and innovative educational models for use within Ìð¹ÏÊÓƵ and disseminated nationally. This Task Force also serves as a think tank for future initiatives in sex and gender-based medicine, including collaboration with our TTU colleagues.
Educational Products
The SGSH educational products include Learning Modules, Slide Library, Micro-Modules, and Templates, all of which can be integrated into existing health care student education curricula. Below is more detailed information about each of these educational products.
LCME Accreditation
Some medical schools are documenting and reporting the use of the Sex and Gender Specific Health Learning Modules as part of their LCME accreditation process. The learning modules can provide schools with the means for meeting educational objectives and are particularly relevant to LCME standards related to curricular content, such as elements 7.5: Societal Problems and 7.6: Cultural Competence and Health Care Disparities in the Data Collection Instrument.
- The SGSH Learning Modules provide case-based education for healthcare students.
- The learning modules were created by interdisciplinary teams of medical professionals and students.
- Each module focuses on sex and gender differences within a specific disease state and can be used for healthcare education in a variety of disciplines.
- Learning module topics include: Osteoporosis; Diabetes; Cardiovascular Disease; Alcohol Use Disorder; Infectious Disease.
- The learning modules are currently in use at Ìð¹ÏÊÓƵ as well as over 200 outside institutions in 28 countries.
- The Micro Modules offer brief and concise information relating to sex and gender differences in various diseases.
- There are five Micro Modules based on the Learning Modules.
- Additional topics are also available, with more being added regularly.
- All Micro Modules include a completion report option to better enable their classroom use.
- The Micro Modules have both audio and video embedded and are ADA compliant.
- The SGSH Slide Library contains peer reviewed, didactic slide sets on specific disease states, including sex and gender difference information.
- The slide sets are created by interdisciplinary teams of medical professionals and students.
- The Slide Library is a resource for faculty to introduce and reinforce the importance of sex and gender specific health research and education in a variety of health topics.
- Slide sets are available for download as a whole topic or according to subtopics for integration into existing curriculum.
- The SGSH Templates provide templates and resources for faulty and medical education institutions interested in integrating sex/gender education into existing curricula.
- The Templates page features:
- IPE Day, an interprofessional pilot program at Ìð¹ÏÊÓƵ, focusing on interprofessional education for quality care and threading sex and gender concepts into a problem based learning model.
- A pilot program, led by Dr. Neelum Aggarwal at Rush University, in which the Learning Modules were utilized in a Chicago high school STEMM program.
- The Reason I Jump, a mini-series designed for preceptor and student education and featuring sex and gender difference education.
- Case simulations demonstrating sex/gender differences in stroke patients.
Additional Features
In addition to the academic educational products, the SGSH website offers sex and gender difference research tools, recent advances in research and implementation, and general healthcare information. Below is more detailed information about these additional features of the SGSH website.
- The SGSH Video Library provides sex and gender difference information relevant to a variety of health and lifestyle topics as well as useful health tips.
- These short videos are designed for a lay audience.
- Video topics include: Breast Health Tips; Depression in Women vs. Men; and Preventing and Controlling Diabetes.
- On the Resources page you will find links to a variety of sex and gender difference
information, including:
- Research integration tools
- PubMed search tool specific to sex and gender
- Textbooks and journals
- Additional medical education curricular materials
- Utilizing the latest VR technology, VxMED creates interactive clinical patient encounters, each of which features a unique 3D patient exhibiting the life-like symptoms of important diseases for medical students to master.
- Developed by medical students at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and with early support from the Laura Bush Institute for Women’s Health Sex and Gender Specific Health initiative and the TTU Innovation Hub, VxMED now provides the Sex and Gender Specific Health Cardiovascular Module free of charge to all users.
- VxMED has incorporated sex and gender difference information into their cases where applicable.
Testimonials
Faculty and students from a variety of medical institutions have provided their feedback regarding the benefits of the SGSH Learning Modules.
They [learning modules] serve as a great introduction to sex and gender based medicine. They are adaptable to our school's commitment to use team-based and case-based learning techniques. They cover common conditions and include information that many students don't receive in their standard curriculum.
The modules have benefited me by giving more diversified knowledge while working in a hospital and/or clinic setting with male and female patients. I can bring a more patient centered approach to the way I care for patients because I know the differences in disease pathology between the sexes.
Completing all five learning modules has benefited me as a teaching tool primarily. I have been using the modules to a limited extent in my courses - Women's Health and Pharmacist Skills Lab. The modules are a good self-guided learning option.
I like that all of the important information is provided in a module that is easy to integrate into existing curriculum.