Sex talk: Common misunderstandings doctors confront about preventing pregnancy
Sex is one of the most natural things in the world – none of us would be here without it. Yet there are many things about sex that need to be learned. Even today, 60 years after the introduction of oral contraceptives, almost half of pregnancies worldwide are unintended. Avoiding pregnancy takes planning, and health professionals can do a lot to help patients better understand contraception.
As an academic physician, I teach an annual course at the Indiana University School of Medicine called “Sexuality for the Clinician,” an important topic often not well covered in medical schools. In my classes, medical students report misunderstandings they encounter among patients about various topics, including contraception.
Some of these wrong ideas are mentioned year after year, and correcting t...