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Abstract
Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of a multi‐modal curricular intervention designed to teach sexual history‐taking skills to medical students. The Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, the National Board of Medical Examiners, and others, have identified sexual history‐taking as a learning objective for medical students.
Methods: Between 2001 and 2003 the sexual history‐taking skills of two sequential cohorts of second‐year medical students were compared. Cohort I (n = 95) received a traditional physical diagnosis curriculum. Cohort II (n = 99) received the same curriculum in addition to a multi‐modal sexual history‐taking module. Both groups were evaluated at one year as part of a general clinical skills evaluation involving three standardized patient cases. The apparent relevance of the sexual history varied per case.
Results: In the obvious‐relevance case, nearly every student in Cohort II initiated a sexual history, performing significantly better than Cohort I (98% versus 86%, p<0.05). A significant positive association was found between the curricular intervention and the number of screening sexual history questions asked (odds ratio, 2.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.3–6.0). In the case with least‐obvious relevance, no student in either cohort initiated a sex history.
Conclusion: Under conditions of a general clinical skills evaluation, the intervention significantly improved second‐year medical students' sexual history‐taking skills in a case of obvious relevance but had less impact in cases where the relevance of the sex history was less obvious.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge Natalia Gavrilova, PhD, for statistical input and Ellen King for research assistance and coordination.