Sexual Medicine and Medical Collaboration · Broad Contributors

The Missing Variable

One client's pharmacy printout, one symptom that means more than it appears to, and four pairs of sentences where both get said and one does something this section rules out.

What this exercise practises

Reading a medication list for the classes this section names, recognising the one presenting symptom in the table that carries clinical urgency, and holding these conversations without implying that the client's body is the problem.

The flagging task is deliberately limited to what the module lists. You are not being asked to form a pharmacological opinion, and the exercise says why that distinction matters.

Estimated time to complete this exercise: 22 minutes

1The list
2The signal
3How you say it
4Close

Before you begin

How this one works

Three parts. One client's medication list, then what his presenting symptom signifies, then four pairs of sentences where you choose the better phrasing.
Part one asks you to flag the entries belonging to classes this section names. Not the ones you believe are relevant. The ones the module lists.
Part three is about how these conversations sound. Both options in each pair are things clinicians say, and one of them does something the section rules out.
Nothing is graded and nothing is recorded. Reloading starts it again.

The purpose of the Section 9 table is awareness rather than mastery. It is not intended to guide diagnosis, medical treatment, medication changes or prognosis, and neither is this exercise. What a clinician familiar with the landscape can do is recognise a contributor, ask an informed question, and facilitate the referral.

References

  1. Balon, R. (2006). SSRI-associated sexual dysfunction. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163(9), 1504–1509. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.2006.163.9.1504
  2. Fedele, D., Bortolotti, A., Coscelli, C., Santeusanio, F., Chatenoud, L., Colli, E., Lavezzari, M., Landoni, M., & Parazzini, F. (2000). Erectile dysfunction in type 1 and type 2 diabetics in Italy. International Journal of Epidemiology, 29(3), 524–531. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/29.3.524
  3. Jackson, G., Boon, N., Eardley, I., Kirby, M., Dean, J., Hackett, G., Montorsi, P., Montorsi, F., Vlachopoulos, C., Kloner, R., Sharlip, I., & Miner, M. (2010). Erectile dysfunction and coronary artery disease prediction: Evidence-based guidance and consensus. International Journal of Clinical Practice, 64(7), 848–857. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1742-1241.2010.02410.x