“Gender has no effect on the level of comfort,” the investigators wrote. They found no significant differences in any of these domains between male and female respondents.
The survey also asked ob.gyns. whether they would like more education about sexual behavior, and the answer was “yes.” About four in five respondents wanted to know more about the topics raised in the survey, which also asked about comfort in talking about sexual orientation and gender identity. About the same number think that their sexual history taking could be more detailed.
In terms of how ob.gyns. responding to the survey would like to receive more information and education, almost all (94%) said they would appreciate receiving more formal lectures about sexual practices. One third said they would like to educate themselves about trends in sexual behavior.
“Based on the survey responses, it seems that people would prefer for official lectures to be included in the curriculum,” said Dr. Kon, noting that required medical school sexual education is currently brief, with a focus on pregnancy and disease prevention and abortion. “In residency, we really don’t have much education either,” she said, adding that more formal education, as in grand rounds, “would highly benefit us as doctors who can relate to patients, who are comfortable talking to women about their health and well-being.”
Dr. Kon and Dr. Hart reported no relevant disclosures.
SOURCE: Hart C et al. and Kon M et al. ACOG 2018. Abstracts 26Q and 11M.