How well do we truly understand clitoral anatomy? An Irish maternity hospital's perspective

Abstract

BackgroundThe clitoris has long been ignored in medical literature and teaching, with the first paper describing its anatomy only published in 1993. It is essential that those working in women's health understand the anatomy of this important female sexual organ.AimsThe aim of this study was to assess the level of knowledge of the anatomy of the clitoris across five cohorts in a busy teaching maternity hospital in Ireland.Materials and MethodsA questionnaire was devised, asking ten consultants, ten non‐consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs), ten midwives, ten midwifery students and ten medical students to name the anatomical parts of a 3D model of the clitoris.ResultsNone of the 50 respondents could name all five labelled parts of the clitoris, and 38 of respondents could not correctly name one anatomical part.ConclusionsIt is evident that there is a lack of knowledge of the anatomical parts of the clitoris among the medical staff included in this study. This reflects a lack of adequate teaching in this area in both past and recent years. Despite this, we acknowledge that women's health and sexual health awareness is improving all of the time, and we hope that this study can highlight the need for reformed teaching in this area.