Philadelphia-based Hahnemann University Hospital is creating a fellowship program to train surgeons and other clinicians in gender affirmation procedures, according to CBS Philly.
The hospital has been performing these procedures for 10 years — in the last year, it performed more than 400. However, Kathy Rumer, MD, director of the Transgender Fellowship Training Program, argues that not enough emphasis is placed on training for these surgeries.
"Instead of being adequately trained, [surgeons] were going to a weekend training course or going to another facility that might be doing the procedures, and seeing a couple procedures and then performing the procedures themselves," Dr. Rumer told CBS Philly.
The one-year program will give surgical and psychiatric training, as well as training pre- and post-operative care.