A thought about Sex Education

The patient experience in healthcare communications can be defined as the exchange of ideas, information, thoughts, and feelings. But what if the patient is not well versed on the information (anatomy, verbal expression, etc)? Worse yet, what if the healthcare staff is uninformed??

The battles in sex education have been historical and continue to this date. It seems there is never to be a consensus on who should teach it and what should be taught. Regardless, most would agree that their physician, M.D. should know a thing or two about general reproductive health! After all, more than half of all women in the United States and Canada use some form of contraceptive, there are at least 20 abortions for every 100 live births, and not to mention that ~¼ of all sexually active adults are or will be carriers of STDs and/or STIs (reference CDC; 2002, Mosher et al; 1999, Fisher & Boroditsky; and 2008, Jones et al).

Alas, my research in trying to improve communication in the GYN patient experience has led me to a study that disputes this very ideal. According to J. Steinauer et al. / Contraception 80 (2009) 74–80, up to 50% of all undergraduate medical school curriculum providers did not provide training on counseling patients in family planning, infertility, and pregnancy options…give this article a glance, their findings are illuminating!