A significant focus for 15 Square is improved public and professional awareness surrounding circumcision and the foreskin in general. The majority of the public still have little understanding of the practice, and a major concern of ours is the pervasive myths that exist even amongst professionals.
One of our major success stories over the years has been the student placement research projects that we host annually. Each year, the students are given support and assistance in pursuing an area of exploration that is relevant to circumcision, the foreskin, and medicine.
Whilst students are given the liberty of exploring the topics of their choice, their choices reveal the gaps that they themselves have identified. The topics selected during previous cohorts have included;
- clinical resources and guidelines
- circumcision and anaesthetic risk
- informed patient consent
- the management of skin conditions
- the medical escalation process
- barriers to men seeking healthcare
- medical education
- psychological impacts
- sexual dysfunction
- foreskin anatomy
- medical ethics and beneficence in medicine
- physical impacts of circumcision
- legal implications and governance
These topics that they have chosen indicates an appetite for more education and information on this topic. One of the common comments made by students is that they are surprised that they are not taught about the discoveries that are made during their research, as well as concern that there are professionals operating that have neither the education on the subject of circumcision, and the lack of resources to cover this topic in the depth that they would expect.
You can find the presentation from our last Annual General Meeting Below:
At our last two Annual General Meeting’s 15 Square hosted students from our 2024 and 2025 cohorts. Both delivered presentations that tackled the institutional barriers to improved healthcare and awareness. In forthcoming year, it is our hope that recent research and qualitative information available on circumcision and foreskin health will make its way into the medical curriculum and corpus of guidance on circumcision. Not only do our students express this sentiment, but perhaps more importantly: so do our service users. Their experiences within healthcare have demonstrated that professionals are leaving education without resources or understanding of circumcision’s impacts and alternatives to common pathologies. Furthermore, as discussed in the presentation above – healthcare providers have a long way to go to bridge the gap in available guidance for doctors and patients.
Informed patient consent mandates a review of circumcision policy in the areas that we see gaps.
*Include the 7 principles of informed patient consent.
We applaud our students for their hard work and efforts, and their ongoing interest in this subject.
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