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PAUL SMITH PATIENTS are more likely to want a chaperone present if an intimate examination is being performed by their regular GP than by a GP they don’ t know well, according to an Australian study.
The findings are explained as a desire by patients who know their GP well to“ ungender” both themselves and their doctor because of embarrassment.
The study by researchers at the University of Wollongong involved a survey of 687 patients at 21 GP practices across regional NSW.
Only a relatively small proportion of patients say they prefer chaperones to be present during genital, rectal or breast examinations or for Pap smears( 5-33 %).
However, this preference rises to 23-33 % if the examination is being conducted by their usual GP.
“ Initially this finding
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PATIENT PREFERENCE: PAP SMEAR OR VAGINAL EXAMINATION
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appears counterintuitive as continuity of care is associated with patient trust in primary care physicians,” the authors wrote in Australian Family Physician.
“ We suggest that, possibly, [ this is ] a desire to‘ medicalise’ the examination,
rendering the participants‘ ungendered’ at that moment to reduce embarrassment in an ongoing doctor-patient relationship.”
For Pap smears tests, 83 % of women said they had never had a chaperone present, while only 1 % reported
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always having a chaperone present.
For an anal or rectal examination, some 75 % of men had never had a chaperone present.
Most patients said they would be comfortable or very comfortable if the chaperone was a practice nurse( 70 %) or another doctor( 66 %).
However, the opposite was true for receptionists or the practice manager, with 56 % of patients saying they would feel very uncomfortable or uncomfortable if they were used as chaperones.
The researchers stressed that many patients felt more, rather than less, uncomfortable when chaperones were used.
“ Blanket provision of a chaperone is not supported by our data, but exploration of the topic may be welcomed by patients,” they wrote. Australian Family Physician 2017; 46:867-73.
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