The YouTube video is a talk between Dr. Maria Shapiro and Dr. Kingsberg on the topic of “Tips for Taking a Sexual History.” The most surprising thing I learned from the video is that there is probably about 10% of the women’s population that are being missed by not taking a sexual history. According to studies, about 1 in every 10 women needs the criteria for sexual dysfunctions. This is surprising because it shows that many women may have sexual dysfunctions and, therefore, sexual health is part of the major concerns in women’s lives. The statistics show the importance and the need of physicians taking sexual histories and the importance of including sexual health as part of their sessions.
Genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) is a condition mainly in postmenopausal women caused due to very low levels of estrogen in the body (Kapoor, Kling, Kingsberg, & Faubion, 2018). Due to low estrogen levels in the body, many symptoms may occur thus affecting the vagina, urethra and the bladder. The symptoms include vaginal burning, itching and dryness, frequent urinary tract infection, painful sex, frequent urination and a sudden urge to urinate. The symptoms, therefore, affect the quality of a woman’s life mainly in self-concept, body image, and sexual functioning.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Dr. Shapiro recommends that the physicians and ask about the sexual health of their patients. They may use screeners in the waiting room, for example, a low sexual desire screener which has five questions that help get a diagnosis and may also help rule out the other factors which might be a real cause of the condition. Dr. Shapiro also recommends the use of open-ended questions to know the sexual concerns of the patient whereby the doctor may make treatment options from them. She states that simply asking, normalizing for women and validating their rights to sexual health will enable the women to feel satisfied visiting the doctor.
Use of screeners in the treatment of sexual dysfunction is necessary. Screening system includes a series of questions which the patients answer according to the conditions she is experiencing. The arrangement of the questions includes details on the problems with sexual dysfunction and sexual practices (Goyal et al., 2016). The questions are few and the problem listed should be sufficiently severe and treatable. Screening questions about sexual problems are a necessity for the health professional to decide on the treatment plan (Goyal et al., 2016). The screening process enables the patients to express their problems and ask more questions which help the physician to diagnose and make treatments.
Taking a complete sexual history may be challenging since opening up to the doctor and giving all the needed information may be difficult. I would be more comfortable in taking a complete sexual history through the physician’s open-ended questions since I will be able to express my problems fully. Comfort levels in taking a sexual history are different for men and women. This is because, in a study of sexual activity in adults, 31% of men and 43% of women are reported cases of sexual dysfunction (Rashidian, Minichiello, Knutsen, & Ghamsary, 2017). This shows that women are more comfortable in taking a sexual history than men.
This will information impact the way I will interact with my mature and elderly clients. This information has shown me the importance of asking your patients about their problems. Involvement of open-ended questions will enable me to get more information from my patients, and I will be able to diagnose and make the necessary treatment. I have also learned the use of screening systems which is also essential to use to diagnose a patient. Most importantly I have learned that as a physician, to get information from the patient I have to be involved in the conversation and ask the patient of any concern or challenges they may be facing in their sexual life.
References
Goyal, M. K., Shea, J. A., Hayes, K. L., Badolato, G., Chamberlain, J. M., Zaoutis, T., & Fein, J. (2016). Development of a sexual health screening tool for adolescent emergency department patients. Academic Emergency Medicine, 23(7), 809-815.
Kapoor, E., Kling, J. M., Kingsberg, S. A., & Faubion, S. S. (2018). Sexual Health in Women. Journal of Women's Health, 27(9), 1082-1085.
Rashidian, M., Minichiello, V., Knutsen, S. F., & Ghamsary, M. (2017). Effect of attitudes towards patients on sexual history taking: a survey of Iranian–American physicians in California, USA. Sexual Health, 14(6), 514-522.
