P21 - Sexual and Gender Minorities: Integrating Culturally Sensitive Care

The holistic needs of multi-generational and multi-cultural demographics set the bar for political advocacy in the nursing discipline. Projected populations for LGBTQ demographics in older adults have vacillated dependent upon the resource reporting. Aging LGTBQ adults may have witnessed a social climate where sexual and gender identification led to volatile retribution. LGBTQ awareness has not altered inequalities found woven through state and federal regulations. The USDHHS Healthy People 2020 initiatives recognized the need to improve healthcare outcomes for this vulnerable population; however, LGBTQ adults continue to experience healthcare provider bias. The purpose of this presentation is to identify how current healthcare policies have created legal windows of opportunity for persons to discriminate and create juxtaposition with goals and objectives of Healthy People 2020; promoting barriers in the healthcare continuum for LGBTQ aging adults. Further emphasis will be placed on demonstrating how advanced practice nurses can provide culturally sensitive care for LGBTQ older adults.