Opinion
Video
Maria Uloko, MD, discusses the lack of resident training on female sexual dysfunction
"Patients are having a hard time getting diagnosed because physicians are leaving medical training and medical education without getting this solid curriculum around female sexual dysfunction," says Maria Uloko, MD.
Residents across specialties reported a lack of formal training on female sexual dysfunction (FSD), which may correlate with their reported discomfort in diagnosing and managing these conditions, according to recent data published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.1
The study was conducted as a cross-sectional survey of 128 residents in urology, obstetrics and gynecology, dermatology, internal medicine, family medicine, and emergency medicine.
Overall, data showed that 78% of residents received training in genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder, as well as only 38% in hypoactive sexual desire disorder, 23% in female orgasmic disorder, and 30% in female sexual arousal disorder. The majority of respondents indicated that they were uncomfortable diagnosing and managing these conditions.
In a recent interview with Urology Times®, senior author Maria Uloko, MD, offered her thoughts on the significance of these findings for clinical care of female patients.
Uloko noted, “The numbers reflected what we see clinically. Patients are having a hard time getting diagnosed because physicians are leaving medical training and medical education without getting this solid curriculum around female sexual dysfunction, vulvar anatomy, physiology, and then also a diagnostic framework and a treatment roadmap for these patients.”
Uloko runs her own practice, MUMD Beverly Hills Sexual Medicine, in Los Angeles, California.
According to Uloko, these findings should encourage urologists to reflect and ask themselves, “what can I be doing better?”
“Every research that we do is to show what the lived clinical experience is. I see this every day. I hear stories, 1000s of stories, all the time, of medical neglect, and I know the physicians behind it are not meaning to do it; they just aren't being taught and trained,” concluded Uloko. “If we can start spotlighting these areas where we can be doing better, I hope it then leads to widespread change and gives ourselves that grace and that humility to say we need to do be doing better.”
REFERENCE
1. Milazzo M, Kohut-Jackson A, Negris O, et al. Assessing comfort levels with female sexual dysfunction among medical residents: a nationwide cross-sectional survey study and its implications for medical education. J Sex Med. 2025;22(5):694-700. doi:10.1093/jsxmed/qdaf071
