In the old days, it was practicing on anesthetized patients without their consent. With this practice now condemned, medical students are doing fewer exams. Here are some other options to learn this sensitive exam.
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The history of so-called “standardized patients”, who often serve as teaching models for pelvic exams, is fascinating as well. You can read more about it here.
Here are some other options to learn this sensitive exam.
Option 1: Get them out of the library so they can find a girlfriend – problem solved.
Honestly, there’s not much to a pelvic exam beyond using a speculum and being very respectful about the interaction. How many docs can actually palpate an ovary (or notice a cyst?) and how much information is actually gathered outside the visual exam via speculum? The whole palpation part seems uneccesary. Med students can learn this on their ER rotation.
I don’t see the big problem, we learned it on our rotations with real (awake and consenting) patients with our instructors like everything else. It was handled sensitively, the patients knew it was a teaching facility and few refused–of course it was that anachronism called a “charity hospital”–an old fashioned device for making sure everyone had access to healthcare without mucking up other peoples private insurance or doctor relationships or freedoms.
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