Developing Clinical Skills For Sexual Health Roles In Nursing

Sexual health roles are underestimated in their opportunities for nurses of all levels, despite consistently evolving and becoming a particularly contemporary domain of practice. In this piece, Rachel takes us through the range of clinical skills nurses can develop in sexual health roles.

Sexual health may be considered a somewhat overlooked and under-promoted career pathway for both Newly Qualified and experienced nurses.

This article considers opportunities available for clinical exposure to this field, and the ways in which this may help Registered Nurses harness the competencies required to transition into sexual health roles.

Multidisciplinary Exposure & Quality Improvement Projects

Regardless of the clinical environment in which an individual is based, gaining experience working alongside members of the sexual health multi-disciplinary team is invaluable in advancing theoretical and practical knowledge for translation into practice.

Undeniably, certain clinical areas lend themselves more naturally to these opportunities, such as emergency departments or general practice where the scope of specialties at nurses’ fingertips is particularly vast. Nonetheless, it is entirely possible for those interested in a career within sexual health to overcome these barriers, by initiating conversations with management around quality improvement projects, clinical studies, or incentives available for nurses.

If these do not exist, this may identify gaps in research or clinical oversight, as well as allow nurses to demonstrate initiative by pioneering a pertinent project.

In this way, proactivity and motivation for clinical improvement sought by employers in all fields of nursing practice may be exemplified, differentiating quality of sexual health job applications.

Field-Specific Faculties & Further Study

Furthermore, registering with a faculty that offers contraceptive and sexual health qualifications, such as The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, also represents a vital resource in generating nursing expertise within this field.

With a plethora of online and face-to-face courses available for nurses to dip into alongside their regular employment may allow individuals to show time-management, academic, and interpersonal skills that lend themselves directly into sexual health nursing professions.

Whilst some Trusts and clinical environments may offer funding for completion of these qualifications both for staff development and departmental benefit, self-funding is an under-discussed option that, where feasible, can demonstrate all the more professional motivation, enhancing applications and encouraging employers to gauge nurses’ level of interest within the specialty.

The genuine desire to advance quality of gynaecological and sexual health nursing care ultimately fosters safer, personalised patient interactions and thus improves clinical outcomes.

An array of innovative healthcare roles exists within this field that present an equally valuable contribution to the delivery of safe and effective care.

Mentoring & Continuous Professional Development

The merit of clinical teaching experience is expressed with increasing frequency by nursing employers, as contemporary sexual health roles continue to evolve.

Within the vast majority of clinical settings, nurses have access to training and implementation of student mentoring, as well as opportunities to deliver ad-hoc education sessions to colleagues on pertinent areas of practice to support professional team development.

These may include departmental rollout of new initiatives, delivering presentations to junior colleagues on advanced clinical skills, and collaboration with a Trust’s education team to lead a study day around a particular area of clinical interest.

Fostering these skills may not only assist nurses in securing entry-level sexual health positions, but also provide evidence of managerial and leadership competencies to compliment applications for senior positions along the trajectory of progression opportunities.

Field-Specific Career Pathways

Finally, it is a valuable exercise for nurses to consider the diversity of careers available within the sexual health domain. Within the wider profession, this speciality is often minimised to a stereotype of those working in genitourinary medicine clinic settings, providing care and interventions for patients suffering from sexually transmitted infections.

Quite contradictorily, an array of innovative healthcare roles exists within this field that present an equally valuable contribution to the delivery of safe and effective care.

These positions also offer ways in which nurses can progress within the speciality, advancing their practical and theoretical knowledge. More specifically, Sexual Health Nurses can achieve this through completion of ‘Advanced Clinical Practice’, a university master’s course available to various degree-educated healthcare professions.

Harnessing clinical experience, the qualification assists practitioners in translating this expertise into formal recognition, for progression within their chosen specialty. The ability to autonomously deliver clinics within general practice and hospital settings, as well as assess, diagnose, and prescribe within the medical team in acute gynaecology environments, is subsequently formed.

Alternatively, non-medical prescribing qualifications encourage focus on evidence-based practice, allowing professionals to prescribe from a limited portfolio of treatments within their scope of practice. This may lend itself to senior roles such as Clinical Nurse Specialist positions within Gynae-Oncology, HIV, and contraception services.

These practitioners are sought-after professionals across the spectrum of sexual health service provision, alleviating the pressure on physicians by distributing management of patient care more evenly across disciplines. Not only may this improve ease and quality of the patient journey, but also support professional development amongst the sexual health team.

Conclusion

Having dispelled some of the common myths around sexual health nursing roles, I hope to have increased awareness of the abundance of opportunities available to those interested in the specialty.

By implementing the guidance discussed above, nurses can pursue a rewarding and ever-expanding career within the field.

Thank you for reading.