ABSTRACT

Med Safe Zone allies act as bridges to link people who need help with the resources they need. People exit the training with a skill set, prepared to be effective members of the support network.  Safe Zone is part of a national program that happens at schools across the country. o It started due to the inordinate discrimination LGBTQ students face in schools and society in general.  It started at University of Arizona (UA) in 1995 out of the Residence Life department. From there, the UA College of Medicine – Tucson enacted a Safe Zone for UAHS, initially. Safe Zone has since, been incorporated in both the UA BSN-IH and DNP programs.
Safe Zone allows students to discuss and share terms such as homophobia, heterosexism, transphobia, and cisgender. It allows an open forum to discuss many of the health disparities that the LGBTQ++ population faces and some of the unique challenges. It is constructed to work to change any false or inaccurate beliefs, or oppressive attitudes, one may have

Safe Zone explores the differences between sex, gender, identity and sexual orientation. A major focus of Safe Zone is to discuss in more depth the many facets of the transgender population, stages of transitioning, and the health concerns this population faces and how, as a health care provider, one can be more comfortable initiating the sensitive topics and discussions.