Sexual Health and Your Patients: A Provider’s Guide
Sexual Health and Your Patients: A Provider’s Guide can help healthcare providers better integrate sexual health conversations and recommended preventive services into routine visits with adolescents and adults. By using this guide, providers can:
- Streamline their sexual history taking
- Increase their delivery of recommended preventive sexual health services by using “at a glance” tables
- Improve their care for LGBTQ+ patients
- Be better prepared to discuss sexual health topics and answer patient questions
- Become more knowledgeable about sexual health
Explore the guide's sections by clicking on the links below, or download the entire guide by clicking in the box.
How to Discuss Sexual Health
Sex can be difficult to discuss, but many patients want to talk about it with you. Get tips for ensuring a productive sexual health conversation with your patients.
Asking Essential Sexual Health Questions
Find the essential sexual health questions to ask adults and adolescents at least annually, plus additional questions you can ask to get more information on partners, practices, past history of STI(s), protection, pregnancy prevention, pleasure, problems, and pride.
Delivering Recommended Preventive Sexual Health Services
Preventive services are a key element to improving and protecting sexual health. Find out which preventive services your patients should be getting, and which ones they shouldn't be.
Responding to Your Patients' Questions
Not always ready to answer questions about sexual health? See sample responses to common questions so you can include all the important elements in your answers.
Information About Recommended Screening Tests
See here for general information about recommended screening tests, including their sensitivity and specificity.
Where to Learn More
Want to learn more about a particular sexual health topic? Visit this list of resources.
A standalone, easily printable job aid focusing solely on the list of comprehensive questions to ask patients can be found in NCSH’s Sexual Health Questions to Ask All Patients tool.
