About US | Goals & Objectives | Call to Action |  Updates

Translating Sex and Gender Specific Science into Clinical Care of Women

www.sgwhc.org

“GoWomensHealth” (twitter)

About US

New Online Resource for Clinicians, Medical Faculty, Students and Practitioners

Ready to launch in July 2012, the Sex and Gender Women’s Health Collaborative is a universally accessible resource for educational and teaching tools focused on sex- and gender-specific women's health for clinicians, medical faculty, medical students and health practitioners. Created by members of leading women's health organizations and the largest women physician's organization in the U.S., The SGWHC aims at improving women's health by recognizing and applying evidence-based medicine to the specific issues, concerns, and medical responses that affect women. The free resource will be available on the world-wide web at www.sgwhc.org and on Twitter at “GoWomensHealth.”

Formerly named the Advancing Women’s Health Initiative, this project has been in development on Medpedia.com since 2009. To date, the site boasts over 160 members, 17 Collaborating Organizations, and over 300 journal abstracts, curricular materials, powerpoint presentations, teaching tools, case studies. Our blog has hosted over 100 discussion topics. A list of our collaborators can be found on the site, and include some of the Centers of Excellence in Women’s Health, The Laura Bush Womens Health Institute, and Drexel University’s Center for Women’s Health.

Goals and Objectives

1. Create a universally accessible library of sex- and gender-sensitive resources, medical curricular materials, and teaching tools on the world wide web.
2. Infuse this information into the curricula of medical schools, continuing education programs and clinical training resources.
3. And, ultimately, to improve the way we deliver bedside healthcare to women, recognizing and applying evidence-based medicine to the specific issues, concerns, symptoms, and medical responses that affect women – a truly Woman-Centered approach to care.

The NBME Project

Our group of collaborators has created the National Board of Examiners Task Force, a group of 30 renowned national thought leaders, researchers, and publishers in women’s health and gender-specific medicine, which has created a list of over 200 topics (Competencies) in the field. This group will be meeting with the NBME in November 2012 to review all 3 certifying physician examinations, with the purpose of identifying any gaps in sex and gender content.

Future Goals and Initiatives

1. Provide an interactive, searchable database of sex and gender specific curricular materials for medical school faculty, students, and practitioners
2. Become the networking site for basic science and medical researchers and faculty about sex and gender specific medicine
3. Emerge as a virtual women’s health journal club that fosters discussion on articles with critical appraisal of literature from a sex and gender-informed perspective.
4. Create Sex and Gender specific database and apps for electronic learning.

Call to Action

Any MD, PhD, DO, or other health professional can submit materials to the site. The Collaborator’s editor facilitates placement and monitors any edits. The editors plan to launch a peer-review option in the near future, and all submissions will be considered a publication.

Physicians, faculty, health organizations, and health professionals are encouraged to use the free teaching tools, curricular material, academic resources, clinical case studies and contribute original content. Medical and health professionals and students are invited join this group, by visiting www.sgwhc.org.

• Become a member – it’s free
• Use the resources
• Contribute content
• Author original materials
• Start a discussion
• Add a comment
• Prepare a Sex and Gender Based Case Study

 

"Doctors and educators with a special interest in Women's Health have seen the need for a repository of information where they can find, share, and contribute information on sex- and gender- specific care of women. Since the establishment of the Office of Women's Health at the NIH, much sex- and gender-specific information has been discovered and reported, but it remains fragmented and decentralized." Janice Werbinski, MD, chair of AMWA's Women's Health Working Group (WHWG), and Associate Clinical Professor at Western Michigan University School of Medicine

“Being male or female is an important basic human variable that affects health and illness throughout the life span.” It is as important as social, racial, and economic variables. Institute of Medicine Report: 2001

“…research should be conducted on how best to rapidly translate the research findings in women’s health into clinical practice and public health policies.” Institute of Medicine Report: 2010

Updates

Coming Soon!