Sarah Ponce discusses pelvic and vulvovaginal pain among medical trainees

In this video, Sarah Ponce discusses the study “Pelvic and Vulvovaginal Pain in Medical Trainees,” which she presented at the 2024 Sexual Medicine Society of North America Fall Scientific Meeting. Ponce is an MD/MPH candidate at Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Transcription:

Please provide an overview of this paper and its notable findings.

Pelvic and vulvovaginal pain includes diagnoses like interstitial cystitis, vulvodynia and vestibulodymia, endometriosis, and pelvic floor dysfunction, and it's very prevalent in the general population, up to 20%, so we wanted to look at the specific experiences of medical trainees with these conditions. So we did a survey that was adapted from the Vulvar Pain Questionnaire and Sexual Distress Scale, as well as the Perceived Stress Scale. We disseminated it this year in 4 major regions of the US, different medical institutions. We had 66 respondents, and 48% of those did say that they had functionally limiting pelvic pain, including in their vulva, vagina, urethra, or bladder for 14 days out of a given month at least.

And of those with pain, it appeared that the Vulvar Pain Questionnaire scores and the Perceived Stress scores did increase by year in medical school. These symptoms are also interfering with their medical duties, their trainee duties, in particular in the realms of focus and productivity. Every respondent did say that it was important that their medical institution require education around these conditions. All but one said that their education was inadequate in this area, and this possibly is affecting them, because most said that there was no change in their ability to manage or understand their condition following their medical education thus far, and as far as health care seeking, one-third of those with pain have not pursued a diagnosis or have not discussed their symptoms with a provider as of yet. We did a qualitative survey for this section, and reasons for this included inadequate education around potential etiologies, health care costs, feelings of hopelessness around available medical treatments, and perceived stigma in their institution. So overall, this highlights the prevalence and barriers to care for this patient population and the need for more supportive environments and advocacy for treatment in the future physician work force.

This transcript was AI generated and edited by human editors for clarity.