Medical Education Classes

Beyond Viagra: Reframing Sexual “Dysfunction” for Non-specialists

This course is oriented towards students, family medicine and OBGYN/reproductive health providers, outpatient nurses, therapists and social workers interested in understanding the physical, social, and emotional components of common sexual issues. We will discuss low libido, orgasm disorders, erection and ejaculation dysfunction, and a variety of pelvic pain conditions, with an eye toward counseling skills, effective referrals-making, and non-pharmaceutical interventions. These recommendations will be actionable regardless of whether your scope of practice includes the ability to prescribe medication.

Taking Inventory of Your Sexual History Forms: Fewer Assumptions, Better Medicine

Ideal for clinic managers, electronic medical records (EMR) company representatives, and medical information technology specialists. This session can be done in lecture format or as a hands-on workshop to retool and refine medical forms and provider “scripts” for taking a patient’s sexual history. We will deconstruct the assumptions present in existing tools and paperwork, and provide a set of best practices for building rapport and eliciting complete and accurate information from clients about their sexual history. This session will also cover common paperwork pitfalls (and their surprisingly simple solutions) affecting LGBT, undocumented, non-monogamous, homeless, disabled, and fat patients.

*Additional step-by-step documentation training available in live format for eClinicalWorks users*

Taking an (Inclusive) Sex-Positive Sexual History

A crucial course for adolescent health, family practice, and OB/GYN practitioners, this session teaches the 5 P's method of sexual history taking, while structuring questions to be inclusive of LGBTQ, non-monogamous, and kinky patients. The class also covers methods for supporting patients who are sex workers and patients who combine sex with criminalized drug use. Lastly, we will talk about safer sex from a holistic standpoint, addressing physical barriers, evidence-based behavioral interventions, and public health strategies. An in-person practicum version of this class is available for a hands-on opportunity to practice counseling and demonstration of safer sex barriers, including internal condoms, gloves, and dental dams.

This class can be adapted for hospital and outpatient focused practice, for prescribing-level providers, mental health, or nursing professionals. Please designate your content preference when requesting a live virtual or in-person class.

Why Pleasure Matters: Risk Reduction for HIV, STI, or Unintended Pregnancy

Suitable for in-person lecture or webinar format, this didactic session introduces a framework for pleasure-centered sex education within the context of HIV, STI, and Unintended Pregnancy risk reduction. Attendees who want to increase their exposure to sex-positive discourse and teaching will walk away with a centralized list of external resources for client engagement and continued education focused on pleasure, not fear. Explicit content about sexual activity and BDSM practices will be discussed.

Introduction to LGBTQ Competency in Medicine

This building blocks class, designed for all medical specialties and training levels, will introduce practitioners to the spectrum of sexual orientations and gender identities encompassed by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) community. The session will cover the conceptual frameworks of gender and sexuality, offer an assessment of current strengths and pitfalls in LGBT culturally competent healthcare, and provide a set of best practices- interpersonal and structural- for practitioners to utilize with all patients, regardless of identity. Select a live training for a more nuanced, facilitated conversation with your colleagues about your identities and experiences with marginalization and accessibility. Learners should leave with enhanced empathy for the experiences of LGBT people, and find parallels to their own experiences in healthcare and the larger world.

Transgender 101: Why Sex and Gender Matter for Better Healthcare

This building blocks session will introduce the frameworks for medical and social models of understanding sex and gender, so that practitioners can better work with transgender and non-binary clients. Appropriate for learners across medical specialties and at all levels of training, we will cover inclusive language for patient care, inclusive intake forms, and basic medical information for for the trans community, and explore ways to enhance patient-clinician collaboration in creating the future of gender-affirming care.

Transgender 201: Specific Care and Referrals for Trans Clients

A follow-up to Transgender 101, this session will look in more depth at the specific medical care that some transgender and non-binary individuals may request, including hormone replacement therapy, electrolysis, and gender confirmation surgery. We will discuss appropriate counseling strategies for clients interested in any of these treatments, and referral options for clients in your geographic area will be offered to attendees, when available. This session's material is most actionable for individuals whose scope of practice involves prescribing and providing referrals, however other types of medical professionals may still find the information useful for general knowledge or advocacy purposes.

Sex Workers: Building the Inclusive Healthcare Practice

Sex workers are among the most marginalized communities in today’s society, with transgender women and non-binary individuals disproportionately represented in their ranks. Whether street-based or working through escort services, stripping in public clubs or managing their own private enterprises, sex workers are frequently not getting the comprehensive, culturally-sensitive care that they are entitled to from service providers, particularly healthcare practitioners. This webinar highlights the challenges and barriers facing sex workers that lead to poor service provision, insensitive policies, identity erasure, invisibility, and discriminatory environments.

Trauma-Informed Care: Serving Survivors of Sexual Violence

All practitioners will serve a survivor of sexual assault, rape, or abuse at some point in their practice, generally without active disclosure of that status. This session will focus on simple best practice techniques for working with survivors and providing competent and appropriate care. Trauma-Informed Care can be hosted as a webinar, or turned into a hands-on practicum specific to the need of your facility. Specific content is available for providers around sensitive exams such as breast/chest exams, pelvic exams (speculum and bimanual), prostate exams and biopsy, cystoscopy, colposcopy, IUD insertion, and forensic nursing exams.

Please specify your medical specialty when requesting a live virtual or in-person practicum session so we can tailor content to your clinical needs.

Structured Shadowing and Case Review Programs

Practitioners looking for in-depth observation and evaluation around a specific sexual health content area can contract an IHC expert to shadow them during their day-to-day clinical practice and provide real time feedback about their clinical care. IHC can facilitate case studies seminars or observe and support existing in-house case review programs.

Each contracted session will conclude with at least a 1-hour tailored mentoring session and final report with external resources for the continued growth of the practitioner.

For inquiries about structured shadowing, please contact bianca@intimatehealthconsulting.com with an email titled "Structured Shadowing" and we will be in touch within 2 business days.