THE PELVIC EXAMINATION - PERCEPTIONS, FEARS AND EXPECTATIONS OF POLICLINIC PATIENTS

Objective: What kind of expectations, desires and fears do patients ha ve concerning the pelvic examination, and is it possible to improve th e procedure? Methods: We asked 1,061 women of our gynecological outpat ient clinic using a questionnaire. Results: 48% said that the pelvic e xamination caused no problem at all, while nearly every third patient felt tense and uncomfortable. 75% of the women wanted explanations dur ing the examination, which had to be carried out in the absence of a t hird person in 46%. The same percentage said that it did not matter. 5 3% had no preference of gender concerning the examiner, 37%, preferred a female doctor and 10% gave preference to a male one. Conclusions: T he pelvic examination, which is mainly associated with reluctance and discomfort of the: patient, does not seem to be experienced like this by almost half of our patients. It is easily possible to ameliorate th e procedure, for example by explaining the findings during the examina tion and by complying with the gender preferences of the patients as m uch as possible.