I haven't done a pelvic exam or pap smear in seven years. That's the last time I had an outpatient clinic. As a hospitalist, if a patient of mine needs a pelvic exam, they have already received one in the emergency room. If they need one as an inpatient in the hospital, I can assure you I'm calling a gynecologist to do the gynecological exams.
Do I call a male gynecologist or a female gynecologist? If the patient has a gynecology doctor as an outpatient, I call whomever that may be. If they don't have an outpatient gyn doctor, I call whomever is on call for consults that day. If the patient has a request (which is rare) for a female or male gynecologist, I try and accomodate their wishes.
When I was a resident in training, I hated doing pap smears . Besides taking up a lot of time in my clinic, I always felt like I was causing the woman pain and a lot of the women didn't bother to clean themselves up. As residents we learned how to do gynecological exams by diving right in. Yet to this day, I'm not sure I've ever felt an ovary on bi-manual exam. I think it's a physical examination scam.
Now I learn the new USPSTF cervical cancer screening guidelines are less aggressive. I bet there are thousands of internal medicine residents jumping up and down with joy this Christmas season at the thought of doing fewer screening gynecological exams.
I suppose you're wondering who does a doctor go to for their gynecological exams? I once spoke with an emergency room doctor who had to come to her emergency room for an emergency gynecological exam. For any women doctors reading this, what's it like having one of your partners do a pelvic exam on you? I can't imagine how weird that would be. I've even heard of doctors doing pelvic exams on their family members. That's even stranger and perhaps a wee bit disturbing. So back to the original questions:
Take the poll (below) now and let's figure this out together.
If you haven't helped me answer the other question on couch or sofa, head on over and complete my other poll as well.
When I was a resident in training, I hated doing pap smears . Besides taking up a lot of time in my clinic, I always felt like I was causing the woman pain and a lot of the women didn't bother to clean themselves up. As residents we learned how to do gynecological exams by diving right in. Yet to this day, I'm not sure I've ever felt an ovary on bi-manual exam. I think it's a physical examination scam.
Now I learn the new USPSTF cervical cancer screening guidelines are less aggressive. I bet there are thousands of internal medicine residents jumping up and down with joy this Christmas season at the thought of doing fewer screening gynecological exams.
I suppose you're wondering who does a doctor go to for their gynecological exams? I once spoke with an emergency room doctor who had to come to her emergency room for an emergency gynecological exam. For any women doctors reading this, what's it like having one of your partners do a pelvic exam on you? I can't imagine how weird that would be. I've even heard of doctors doing pelvic exams on their family members. That's even stranger and perhaps a wee bit disturbing. So back to the original questions:
Would you rather have a male gynecologist or a female gynecologist do your gynecological exams? Do male gynecologists or female gynecologists offer something the other sex does not?
Take the poll (below) now and let's figure this out together.
If you haven't helped me answer the other question on couch or sofa, head on over and complete my other poll as well.
