Asking about sexual practices is important not just in the context of reproductive health and disease prevention, but also to the “well-being of a woman in general, which is very important if you want to be a good doctor,” Dr. Kon said in a video interview.
Dr. Kon's interview:
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Links to the online survey were sent to ob.gyn. residents, fellows, and attending physicians in New York. Three-quarters of respondents were female, and almost half (46%) were aged 25-30 years; 59% were in postgraduate year 1-4. Most were white (69%) and heterosexual (87%).
“Years of training improve the level of comfort” in discussing specific sexual practices, Dr. Kon and her colleagues wrote in the poster accompanying their presentation at the meeting. “What we found, actually, is that people who are in practice longer were more comfortable talking about certain topics, but not all of them,” said Dr. Kon.
The investigators found that respondents who were in their 5th postgraduate year and beyond were significantly more comfortable discussing sex with elderly patients, talking about masturbation and sex toys, and talking about dyspareunia or libido problems (P value for being either “comfortable” or “very comfortable,” .0104, .0422, and .003, respectively). On the other hand, experience didn’t make a difference in the level of comfort with addressing a transgender person.