When I was on my Urology rotation, I spent a day watching cystoscopies* and TURPs.* I really wasn't allowed to do much more than watch the tv screen which showed the inside of the unconscious man's bladder or urethra.
One of the residents said to me, "If you want to practice rectal exams, go right ahead. He won't mind," gesturing to the unconscious male patient, "I'm sure you'll feel some pathology in this population."
Ah the contrast between Ob/Gyn and Urology. Between female patients and male patients. It seems only female orifices are girded with anti-med-student consent forms.
One wonders how this is.
.... I decided not to take him up on his offer.
*Looking in the bladder with a camera
*Surgical treatment for BPH* in which the prostate is scooped out with a curette where it is blocking the urethra. Definitive treatment for BPH (as opposed to pills like alpha blockers or 5-alpha reductase inhibitors).
*BPH = enlarged prostate
2 Pearls of Wisdom:
And consequently my medical school hires female, um, females to be the recipients of real live pelvic exams from groups of nervous medical students, but never did hire males to receive testicular or rectal exams. Which is why, incidentally, I'm never sure what the hell I'm palpating for in the testes, and actually I've never done a really prostate exam. Ever.
I wish the surgeon had offered while I was watching TURPs. I'm not as moral as you; I would've said yes.
[HA HA HA. The word verification? Is "scrupe." Which is "scruples" made into genitalia, I think.]
Ah yes. Well. Let's just say it wasn't for moral reasons that I deferred (though it's nice to pretend). It's just the logistics were.... difficult. Imagine an unconscious guy in stirrups with a metal rod up his penis.
And anyway, I stuck my finger up enough assholes on the trauma service. So I don't feel deprived of rectal exams or anything.
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