Commentary: Best practice in primary care

Discrepancy between physicians’ perceptions and practices during pelvic examinations in Taiwan

“…These findings are consistent with previous reports that physicians understand the PE principles for protecting women, avoiding cross-infection [19], respecting the autonomy of women and giving them the opportunity to decide whether to accept a PE [14], maintaining women's privacy [8], and keeping women's data confidential [16,17].…”

“…In other words, physicians did not always practice the procedures they believed were important. These 8 procedures were primarily in explanation and consent, information and instruction, and sensitivity categories, which have been shown to reflect the basic principles of respect, privacy, explanation, and consent for vaginal examination [8]. Indeed, these 3 categories were of most concern to and appreciated by women who had to undergo a PE [15,21,23].…”

“…Physicians must be careful not to invade the patient's privacy when taking a medical history, avoid causing discomfort during the examination by paying attention to physical privacy [8] and the temperature of the speculum, and be careful not to make the patient feel anxious. Gentle and considerate ''good manners'' throughout the examination will help the patient to relax sufficiently for the PE and have confidence in the physician [5].…”

“…= 4.1, range = 0. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] in OB/GYN OPD. Their education level ranged from vocational school (24%) or junior college (56%) to college graduate (20%).…”

“…Physicians must obtain permission from the patient prior to commencing with the PE and explain what will be done and why [5,8,9,13,14].…”