Nursing Care for Unprotected Sex and STDs

This essay discusses the risks of unprotected sex and the importance of nursing care for individuals with STDs. It emphasizes the need for patient education and awareness.

Running Head: NURSING CARE
NURSING CARE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
This essay is going to discuss about the unprotected sex as practiced by Justin who
was experimenting with his sexuality. Thus, he develops blisters on his penis that becomes a
concern for him and goes to visit a doctor. As the patient practices unprotected sexhence itcan
easily lead the patient to sexually transmitted diseases or STD (Workowski, 2015). These
diseases are communicable and can transmit from an infected person to a healthy person
while having unprotected sex with the infected person. Thus, it is important for every
individual to use protection while having sex in order to protect themselves from the risk of
STD (Workowski & Bolan, 2015).
Body
Relevant Assessment
When the patient was admitted to the clinic the vital signs recorded were blood
pressure 112/70 mm of Hg and the heart rate was 14 breaths per minute. His body
temperature recorded was also normal along with the oxygen saturation. The only
abnormality that was observed by the nurse was the presence of three open and inflamed
lesions that ranges from size millimeters to large size that is approximately 1.5cm in
diameter. However, there were no other lesions around the scrotum, rectum or inside the
urethra. The nurse also noticed that the glands around his groin were slightly enlarged
(Satterwhite et al., 2013).
As Justin told the clinician that he did not use any protection while having sex with
his partner as she said that she cleared all her STD tests so the first assessment of the patient
will be the screening for the presence or absence of STD (Workowski & Bolan, 2015). The
lesions on the penis can be due to non-STD that are due to the common situations such as
bacterial infection in the hair follicle and genital herpes can be the reason for the formation of

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the blisters. Genital herpes is a medical condition that is caused by the infection of the HSV
or the Herpes Simplex Virus (Muessig et al., 2013). These symptoms can also be due to the
growth of the pubic lice and scabies as well. The screening of the presence or absence of STD
will depend on the blood test for the presence or absence of the Herpes virus. If the virus is
present then only it can be said that the patient is suffering from HSV. In order to be sure
about the process of assessment the viral culture can also be performed (Unemo et al., 2017).
As it is known that the HSV can be asymptomatic then the infection can be identified
by the serological screening. The rationale behind the use of the serologic screening in order
to identify the unrecognized HSV infection that is followed by proper counselling can
prevent transmission of HSV among the individuals and can reduce the rate of future
morbidity (Newcomb et al., 2014). The other tests will include PCR (Polymerase Chain
Reaction) which is an enzyme based reaction in which the piece of DNA of the virus is taken
from the fluids or sores from the genital tract. Cell culture is another method of checking the
presence of HSV in which a cell from the sore or blisters is taken and is checked for the
presence of virus (Muessig et al., 2013). The results of PCR or Cell Culture might be false
negative if the sores have started to heal or the patient is infected recently. The blood test
using the antibodies can also help in the detection of the presence or absence of the HSV 1 or
HSV 2 virus (Workowski & Bolan, 2015).
Role of Sexual Health Team
Sexual health is really a condition of well-being that includes physical, emotional,
mental, social, and spiritual dimensions in relation to the sexuality throughout life (Newcomb
et al., 2014). Sexual health is an inherent item of the health of the human and is based on a
favorable, fair, and have respectful attitude to the sexuality, relationships, and the
reproduction that is free of fear, coercion, stigma, discrimination, shame, and violence
(Sanchez et al., 2013). It involves the capacity to comprehend sexual behavior's advantages,

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hazards, and obligations, disease prevention and care and other negative results, and the
chance of sexual relationship fulfilment. Sexual health is affected by the socioeconomic and
the cultural contexts that promote good results for people, families, and their communities,
including policies, procedures, and services. The stigmatization of individuals with, at
danger, or screened for multiple sexual behavior-related health problems arises from adverse
sexual health outcome messages (Satterwhite et al., 2013). Stigma and misunderstandings
about sexual health can influence both the health care staff and the patients served by them.
Incidentally, when physicians and their clients often fail to discuss publicly the personal
sexuality problems of patients during clinical visits, promoting media sexuality for e.g.,
advertising and entertainment continues to be omnipresent and often sensational (Everett,
2013). If both professionals and the patients could regard sexuality and sexual health
maintenance with a more structured, favourable perspective as something that needs to be
sought and preserved rather than prevented and stigmatized misconceptions about sexual
health could be resolved more readily (Workowski & Bolan, 2015).
Patients may not reveal their sexual orientation, risk behaviour, or other appropriate
data needed to determine their requirements for health care. It can be challenging for
suppliers to provide adequate healthcare in a primary care environment, where there are many
conflicting healthcare priorities during a short meeting (Workowski, 2015). Healthcare
professionals might lack the knowledge, ability, convenience, and experience that provide the
same quality of sexual health care accessible in a sexual health environment as in an STD
clinic. In our research, patients seemed to prefer their sexual health care to the STD clinic ;
we discovered that most patients had access to other kinds of sick care and preventive care
sites, yet they chose the STD clinic for their STD care (Muessig et al., 2013).
Thus, it is important for Justin to seek help from the healthcare team or there is need
to visit the clinic that deals with the patients who are suffering from STD. This will help the

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patients to work as per the requirements of the patients and have certain specific needs
(Workowski & Bolan, 2015). This will help Justin to talk freely to the clinicians and the
nurses and thus, it will ultimately improve the treatment of Justin. This approach will be
patient centered and thus, it will be helpful to know whether the treatment is having positive
patient outcome or not. The important aspect of the sexual healthcare team is to give a
complete education to all the patients who are experiencing sexually transmitted diseases
(Satterwhite et al., 2013).
Patient Education
There are two significant target audiences for education in order to encourage sexual
health within the clinical environment like the health care providers and patients. While this
paper does not outline particular instructional techniques, we describe some of the benefits
and difficulties of teaching these audiences (Muessig et al., 2013). Healthcare providers can
benefit from the changes to extensive sexual health education and training rather than from
more prevalent disease-focused training. A safe sex strategy might benefit professionals by
making patient visits more efficient and creating more clinical environments that are both
non-judgmental and inclusive (Workowski, 2015). The use of a sexual health strategy can
improve effectiveness and the messages that states about staying healthy or shows the
importance of screening for both the partners can strengthen each other, enabling various
sexual health problems and referrals to be resolved on the same visit. For example, a wider
focus on sexual health might improve the delivery of a more extensive package of associated
services (Terrault et al., 2013).
Furthermore, in a non-judgmental context where sexuality discussions are normalized,
a sexual health view can present screening and management of reproductive and sexual
health. By using messages and debating sex in everyday situations, nurses can normalize the
interactions concerning sexual health (Everett, 2013). Government bodies and NGOs should

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create and disseminate messages to promote safer sex and educate individuals about risk
management. They must provide protection contraceptives that safeguard against pregnancy
and infection, educate individuals and encourage their use of condoms (Sanchez et al., 2013).
Adolescents should be provided with adequate sex education by schools and community-
based programs before sexual activity begins. Some surveys have shown that, rather than
increasing promiscuity, such education tends to delay the initiation or frequency of sexual
intercourse. Health officials should incorporate STD care operations into other health care
facilities to decrease the barriers encountered by individuals seeking care. In a friendly
setting, patients who are looking for STD care should be met at a place where they can be
interviewed and treated in privacy (Newcomb et al., 2014).
Efforts must be made to enhance attitudes towards patients with STDs among health
care staff who are sometimes hostile or are judgmental. Among those in need of friendly and
confidential facilities are young individuals and men who have sex with other males. Health
officials should incorporate STD care operations into the other health care facilities to
decrease the barriers encountered by individuals seeking care (Park, Introcaso & Dunne,
2015). In a friendly setting, patients looking for STD care should be given where they can be
interviewed and can be treated in privacy. Efforts should be created to enhance attitudes
towards patients with STDs among health care workers who sometimes are hostile or are
judgmental (Unemo et al., 2017).
Among those in need of friendly and confidential facilities are young individuals and
men who have sex with other males. The significance of all patients undergoing drug therapy
classes that are longer than a single dose must be stressed (Papadakis, McPhee & RABOW,
2013). Patients should also know that they are still infectious with others during therapy; for
this reason, and since intercourse may prolong their own symptoms, they should be
recommended to abstain from sex during therapy. When the individuals are being encouraged

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to use condoms, health officials should guarantee that condoms of good quality are
adequately supplied at health centres and at numerous other community distribution points
(Metsch et al., 2013).
Another way to increase access to condoms is the social marketing of condoms.
Counselling must be made accessible for instances where it is necessary (Haberland &
Rogow, 2015). For instance, in chronic instances of genital herpes or warts for those people
or couples who are already in a sexual relationship. Encourage patients from their clinic or
doctor to seek therapy. Discourage self-medication or getting medication from unlicensed
sources. The nurse should encourage the patients to finish their therapy course. If the patients
stop the treatment too early it is a common reason for failure of treatment as soon as
symptoms disappear and along with this the nurse should also discourage drug sharing among
the patients (Ha et al., 2017).
If the diagnosis is not certain, there should be no labelling of an infection as sexually
transmitted. Most RTIs are not sexually transmitted, and this should be understood by
patients and their associates (Slater & Robinson, 2014). The nurses should encourage the
therapy of the partner if necessary. Partner therapy is recommended for females with genital
ulcers, cervicitis signs or PID, but thorough counselling is required to prevent
misunderstanding and potential conflict between partners. The nurses should highlight what
can be done by patients to avoid reinfection (Coleman et al., 2013).
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that in order to prevent STD among the individuals who
practice unprotected sex, education and awareness is necessary. It is important for the
individuals to know and assess the risk for the transmission of the diseases. This can harm the
health of the individual and along with that increases the risk of the spread of the disease. The

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awareness to the patient will include the facts about the diseases, their causes, modes of
transmission and prevention. As the available treatment process for the STDs are not that
efficient thus, it is required that the individuals should practice safe sex and should not
experiment with their sexuality. Thus, this essay highlights the facts about the conditions that
can arise from the unprotected sex, analyses the situations and suggest ways to cope up with
the situation. It shows that patient education is very important in spreading awareness among
the patients and individuals who practice unprotected sex as it shows a patient centered
approach.

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