Polish medical curriculum review finds limited transgender and intersex health content

Transgender-related content appeared in the compulsory curriculum of only one of the 11 largest public universities offering medical degrees in Poland, according to a cross-sectional, document-based review. The study examined official curriculum documents, course catalogues, syllabuses and Public Information Bulletin records for terms related to transgender and intersex health. Together, the participating institutions accounted for 83.0% of all medical degree completions reported nationwide in 2025.

Seven of the 11 universities offered optional transgender-health teaching, while four had no identifiable transgender-related content in either compulsory or optional courses. Optional provision was generally limited: six universities offered only one elective course. The researchers therefore found marked variation among institutions and concluded that transgender health was not systematically embedded in the undergraduate medical curricula examined. The results describe documented provision rather than what students learned during classes, clinical placements or informal teaching.

Most of the transgender-related teaching identified by the review was placed in departments of psychology, psychiatry, sexology, ethics and the medical humanities. There was little evidence of integration into biomedical or clinical disciplines. The study classified courses by their relevance to transgender and intersex health, whether they were compulsory or optional, and their disciplinary placement. It did not directly assess students’ knowledge, teaching quality, course depth, duration, assessment or the influence of the content on graduates’ subsequent clinical practice.

No explicit intersex-related content was identified in any of the available compulsory or optional course syllabuses reviewed. This absence applies to the curricula that could be identified through the systematic documentary search; it does not prove that every classroom session, clinical placement or teaching activity omitted intersex health. Content without an explicit transgender or intersex label, teaching delivered outside formal syllabuses or material that differed between catalogue versions could also have escaped identification. The analysis therefore establishes gaps in visible, formal curriculum documentation, not a complete inventory of all teaching that may have occurred.

Because the research was a cross-sectional review of written curricula, it assessed whether these programmes formally exposed students to transgender and intersex health rather than testing the effectiveness of an educational intervention. The authors concluded that more systematic incorporation of transgender and intersex health into compulsory undergraduate medical education could help ensure that future physicians acquire a common minimum level of competence for respectful, multidisciplinary care. That conclusion is a proposed curricular direction, not evidence that adding compulsory content would necessarily change clinical behavior or health outcomes. Even with broad national coverage, the study cannot show that all Polish graduates lacked relevant competencies; it shows that documented provision remained limited, uneven and dependent largely on optional courses and local institutional initiatives across the 11 programmes reviewed.

Subject of Research: Documentation of transgender and intersex health content in Polish undergraduate medical curricula

Article Title: Transgender and intersex health in undergraduate medical education: a curriculum analysis of medical degree programmes in Poland

Article References: Doda-Nowak, E., den Heijer, M., Ruchała, M., & Ziemnicka, K. (2026). Transgender and intersex health in undergraduate medical education: a curriculum analysis of medical degree programmes in Poland. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-10600-4

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12909-026-10600-4

Keywords: transgender health, intersex health, medical education, curriculum analysis, medical students, Poland, medical schools, health competencies, cross-sectional review, undergraduate curricula, Transgender, intersex