Many healthcare professionals feel concerned about their ability to take an appropriate sexual history, however skilled and confident they may be at taking a standard history. In part, this is a reflection of educational practices - sexual history taking has tended to be taught separately - but also is testimony to the social embarrassment and difficulties we experience talking about sex in general. Healthcare professionals may feel comfortable taking a sexual history when they perceive the presenting complaint as directly relating to a sexual problem; however, use of sexual history taking in a more proactive way, as part of routine and preventative healthcare, may be more difficult. With appropriate training and experience, these difficulties can be conquered. For some patients, there may be great discomfort, trepidation and even shame felt approaching a medical professional for help in sexual matters.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original article at https://patient.info/doctor/sexual-history-taking