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News and Events

14/05/2007 10:37:45

Lack of Training keeping Practice Nurses tight lipped about Sexual Health

Lack of training is preventing practice nurses from delivering crucial sexual health and contraception advice, a survey has revealed.

The survey, commissioned by Durex, revealed that more than two thirds of practice nurses (68%) say they do not proactively ask their patients about their sexual health or their contraceptive needs because they haven’t been trained to do so.

This is despite recently issued guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) which put practice nurses in the frontline of delivering sexual health advice to patients

However, findings show practice nurses are likely to be asked about contraception or sexual health between two and ten times a week (65%) by their patients, with more than a quarter (27%) answering sexual health questions between 11 and 40 times a week.

The majority of nurses are asked about both contraception and sexual health, with nearly all the nurses saying they answered questions about chlamydia (99%).

The England-wide practice nurse survey was commissioned by Durex for National Condom Week (May 14 to May 20) which aims to highlight the importance of safer sex and using a condom during sex. A total of 1,000 practice nurses participated.

Nearly all nurses who were asked (93%) said training should be made available to practice nurses and, of this, 69% said more formal training and safer sex literature (57%) would aid them in the delivery of sexual health and contraception advice.

Tina Bishop, a member of the Royal College of Nursing Practice Nurse Steering Committee, said: "Practice nurses have a key role to play in delivering sexual health and contraception advice in their clinics.

"But this survey appears to show that they are not receiving the vital training that is necessary to ask a patient about their sexual health. Up-to-date training is a core component of a nurse’s skills and competencies and can boost the confidence of a nurse so they feel able to ask about sensitive subjects such as sexual health.

"Practice nurses are often the first port of call for someone who has a health matter and they are at the forefront of delivering advice and healthcare in a modern surgery. That is why it’s so important for them to receive training in a wide range of issues."

The survey also found those who had received recent training in sexual health were more significantly more likely to proactively raise the subject with their patient.

Ruth Gresty, of Durex, commented: "It’s clear from the survey that practice nurses have a lot to say on the subject of sexual health and the way the issue is tackled in the surgery.

"The Department of Health has set targets to reduce the number of STIs, particularly chlamydia, and halve the number of teenage pregnancies by 2010. The involvement of practice nurses in delivering sexual health is critical to meet those targets.

"Practice nurses are keen to engage with their patients about sexual health and contraception but nurses are not asking the questions because they say they haven’t received appropriate training to do so.

"However, the findings also showed that practice nurses were willing to undertake further sexual health training to improve their skills and competencies in this important area, if training opportunities were made available to them."

Many nurses still hear a variety of reasons why people don’t use condoms, with the two most common being ‘my partner won’t use a condom’ (90%) and ‘I wont’ catch an STI from my partner as they’re not that type of person’ (80%).

Ruth added: "It’s concerning that the same reasons for not using a condom are still being heard by nurses, especially when the survey results show nearly all nurses are asked about chlamydia.

"Using a condom is about respecting your own and your partner’s sexual health. You can’t tell from looking at a person who has and who hasn’t got an STI and the only way of preventing both STIs and unintended pregnancy is by wearing a condom."

National Condom Week runs from the 14th until 20th May.



Source: Myriad PR (edited by GAR)




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