A pilot study exploring sexual health clinician confidence and barriers to anal examination and proctoscopy in men who have sex with men
Richard Hughes A , Colin Fitzpatrick A , Kayleigh Nichols A , John Devlin A and Daniel Richardson
A B *
A University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, Brighton BN2 5BE, UK.
B Brighton & Sussex Medical School, Brighton BN1 9PX, UK.
Sexual Health 18(6) 515-516 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH21196
Submitted: 26 September 2021 Accepted: 28 October 2021 Published: 29 November 2021
© 2021 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing
Abstract
Anal examination and proctoscopy are important skills needed to facilitate the diagnoses of STIs and cancer. Clinician (25 doctors/15 nurses) confidence was higher for anal examination versus proctoscopy (median Likert scores 4/5 vs 5/5, P ≤ 0.05) and higher in doctors compared with nurses (median Likert scores 5/5 vs 4/5, P < 0.008, 4/5 vs 2/5, P < 0.005), and related to years of experience (5/5 vs 4/5, P < 0.001, 3/5 vs 5/5, P = 0.007). Barriers included lack of opportunities for training, concerns about patient reluctance, and lack of available equipment. We need to be innovative when up-skilling the specialist sexual health workforce using online training and optimising opportunities for clinical assessment of MSM.
Keywords: anal cancer, anal warts, education, men who have sex with men, proctoscopy, proctitis, rectal chlamydia, rectal gonorrhoea, sexual health training, sexually transmitted infections.
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