the arc of the moral universe...

jayparkinsonmd:

I just finished reading Bonk by Mary Roach. 

The study of sexual physiology—what happens, and why, and how to make it happen better—has been going on for centuries, behind the closed doors of laboratories, brothels, Alfred Kinsey’s attic, and, more recently, MRI centers, pig farms, and sex-toy R&D labs.  I spent two years wheedling  and conniving my way behind those doors to bring you the answers to the questions Dr. Ruth never asked.  Is your penis three inches longer than you think? Is vaginal orgasm a myth?  Can a dead man get an erection? Why doesn’t Viagra help women—or, for that matter, pandas?

I spent 4 years in medical school and 5 years in residency. I went to Penn State for medical school and St. Vincents in the West Village for Pediatrics and Hopkins for Preventive Medicine. I never once received lectures on sex and sexuality. It’s sad to think that doctors must teach themselves something so important to us all. Speaking of that, here are the other topics that were either skipped over entirely or given a blurb in a lecture throughout my nine years of medical training:

• Behavior change
• Diet and nutrition
• Exercise
• Death and dying
• Communication skills
• The business of healthcare in America (aka, how to run a practice)

These are just off the top of my head. What are the others?

In three years of a focused pre-med undergraduate program, I can honestly say each of these topics have been incorporated into our curriculum (see: motivational interviewing). It’s so easy for me to get frustrated with the BA/MD program and conservative, closed-minded people that I see entering the field, but I often forget that at UNM, we’re probably ahead of the curve. That thought isn’t as comforting to me as it sounds.