The preparedness of freshman medical students for taking sexual histories

With recent epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases, it is increasingly important for medical students to be well prepared to take sexual histories. The authors studied this issue through a self-administered questionnaire completed by first-year medical students at two western U.S. medical schools (response rate 87%). Students who were better prepared (i.e., more knowledgeable, more comfortable, more appropriate attitudes) had more personal sexual experience and were more likely to have spoken with either a physician or a patient about a personal sexual concern. Different student characteristics were associated with different domains of preparation for taking a sexual history (e.g., knowledge v.s. attitudes). The educational implications of these findings are discussed.