Table 3 Themes from free text field of questionnaire

Lack of exposure to male examination

 ▪ no opportunities to examine males during O&G module

 ▪ Male genital examination - > non-existent

 ▪ O&G was adequate for female genital exam preparations, however we have had no exposure to male examinations

 ▪ Have not had any structured teaching in male genital examination

 ▪ Haven’t really done any teaching/learning on males

 ▪ More or less non-existent teaching or experience on genital examination to date

Opportunistic exposure only

 ▪ Some minimal incidental exposure in clinical practice

 ▪ Only have female experience due to [undertaking a] summer studentship

 ▪ Previous experience with female genital examination was observing during pap smear on two General Practice occasions

 ▪ Observed one or two in 4th year

Limited or no exposure

 ▪ A topic that has not been addressed previously

 ▪ One lecture in Paeds, but I never got to see or do

 ▪ No previous learning

 ▪ Practice on model in 3rd year Have not done any, so most of this in non-existent

 ▪ We just had a dummy vagina in MED3 to learn speculum and bimanual exam. A total of 3 h max

Positive Experience with suggestions for minor change

 ▪ I enjoyed it!

 ▪ Very valuable.

 ▪ It is a good addition and should be continued

 ▪ Fantastic module

 ▪ Scary, but helpful

 ▪ Specific advice around technique adjustment was really useful!

 ▪ Invaluable learning opportunity. Very helpful tutors and empathetic actors.

 ▪ This was easily the best part of the Module. Very valuable. The pre-exam video for males is poor and should be replaced.

 ▪ Would be good to have a range of ages and subjects and more exposure

More instruction/demonstration required prior to having to do examination

 ▪ It was good although I would’ve liked to be able to see the genital exam performed and explained before having to do it ourselves.

 ▪ A bit more formal instruction before exam would have helped.

Quality of experience dependent on tutor

 ▪ Dr X was absolutely fantastic as a tutor

 ▪ Dr Y was rude to both me and the teaching associate. I felt this was inappropriate and unconstructive.