Testicular exam without gloves

[Law2Doc]

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True story, I know of a doctor at a hospital around here that routinely does rectals without gloves. Something about getting a better sense of whats in there.

I heard he also did his exams with both his hands on the patients shoulders.

 

[rodmichael82]

I heard he also did his exams with both his hands on the patients shoulders.

So you're saying he didn't use a condom?

 

[circulus vitios]

This is the dumbest form of peer pressure I've ever heard of.

Friends don't let friends bareback balls.

 

[Ronin786]

Trolling hard bro?

I am not trolling. It's a hospital outside the US, but the dude is a general surgeon and all his residents talk about it. Patients don't have much autonomy here, so their discomfort isn't really acknowledged. I can't speak for what goes on inside the surgeons head though...

 

[Salinas]

-

 

[Armadillos]

Just grab a pair of gloves and stick them in your white coat pocket next time your on your way to meet with your preceptor, might not be optimally sanitary to use gloves out of your pocket, but surely better than nothing.

 

[serendipity007]

Had to bump this thread. I am dying! So funny haha

 

[CDI]

Had to bump this thread. I am dying! So funny haha

Overseas (read: developing nations = no money) it's routinely done without gloves on & cadaver dissections as well. My final surgery practical exam was on a patient with a hydrocele and another with an inguinal hernia...no gloves. Nosocomial infections are exponentially higher over there, and we know that's obviously a big reason behind it.

PRs are definitely done gloved though - even in the poorest of hospitals. To hear that someone is going bare-finger is just straight up weird to me. Ronin's story is a bit overboard. The doctor probably has other "issues" if they don't realize the risk in that.

 

[45408]

I wear gloves more and more now. If I'm seeing someone in the clinic without an open wound/incision, I'll usually examine them without gloves (exam is usually heart/lungs/abdomen), but once someone's an inpatient, I almost always wear gloves.

 

[ar2388]

yea i just automatically put gloves on. I don't care what the patient thinks about that (prolly nothing), but I want to protect myself.

 

[Kahreek]

rule of thumb, if there is no mucosa, no wounds or no skin lesions involved it is probably alright to do it without gloves, given the pt has good hygiene. However if you talk about penis, defenitly gloves. And when you do a comprehensive examination you cant really separate the two.
I would wear gloves, minus if it was something simple like checking for a hernia.

 

[CDI]

rule of thumb, if there is no mucosa, no wounds or no skin lesions involved it is probably alright to do it without gloves, given the pt has good hygiene. However if you talk about penis, defenitly gloves. And when you do a comprehensive examination you cant really separate the two.
I would wear gloves, minus if it was something simple like checking for a hernia.

Well, you know what they say...
"Where there are testicles, there is a penis."

I might have just made that up, but in my experience it has held true so far.

 

[Kahreek]

Well, you know what they say...
"Where there are testicles, there is a penis."

I might have just made that up, but in my experience it has held true so far.

😳

 

[michaelrack]

Well, you know what they say...
"Where there are testicles, there is a penis."

I might have just made that up, but in my experience it has held true so far.

I'm surprised no one has come up with an exception to this yet

 

[yehhhboiii]

I'm surprised no one has come up with an exception to this yet

i just read an article the other day about someone who was the other way around
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/04/66-year-old-hong-kong-man-is-woman_n_3382366.html

turner syndrome and congenital adrenal hyperplasia

 

[survivordo]

I can't see myself doing a testicular exam without gloves, think it would be awkward for the patient as well. Besides, who wants from unda' cheese on their hands... nasty.

Survivor DO

 

[Guero]

Though your hands are probably dirtier, you dont want to be fondling a sweaty pair of cracker jacks. Suit up. You might forget to wash and end up touching your face. That's an inadvertent teabag from an old dude.

I'm loving these retorts of yours more and more...

Haha do you guys think I enjoyed the experience? Of course not. I still can't get over the fact that I pretty much fondled a 60 yo man yesterday. It was an extremely awkward experience. I'm a lowly MS1, so I am grateful that my preceptor allows me to do things that my peers normally don't do. Asking for gloves would have made the situation awkward for my preceptor and the patient. The guy is a seasoned physician who has been practising for close to 40 years...If I asked for gloves, I'd imagine that he'd say something along the lines of "man up, you're a doctor now."

As others have said, carry some in your white coat for surprise occasions like these. Protection is your number 1 concern. Never ask to wear gloves. If gloves were somehow not readily available or if you'd feel awkward walking across the exam room, I'd have started a fake but believable coughing fit, excused myself saying I'd be right back to finish the exam, and would have grabbed the nearest set of gloves.

Back when I was an ER tech I was doing an absurd amount of EKGs one day and was in a rush. I normally didn't wear gloves for this because you really don't even touch the patient, right?

Wrong. I walk into one room and before me lays the fattest hairiest woman I have ever seen. The nurses were already in there drawing blood and whatnot and they quickly make space for me gesturing me to come over. So now I am standing in the midst of nurses, none of whom have gloves on, trying to figure out how I can lift a hairy visibly sweaty 30lb tit to place my leads. I start to make for the gloves but the lady is staring straight at me and the gloves are on the other side of the bed across the room. If I get them now I look like a huge *******. It would be obvious why I was grabbing them. So yea....still have nightmares.

Now I grab gloves immediately upon entering the room. If I don't need them I don't put them on, but at least with them in hand it doesn't look to the patient that you are donning them to avoid touching them should the need arise.

:shudder: I always wear gloves for my EKGs even if the pt is Dove fresh. You. Never. Know.

....except the formaldehyde itself.

+1, beat me to it. PFA in the lab is far worse.

Friends don't let friends bareback balls.

I was wondering how long it'd take you top stop by. 😉

I am not trolling. It's a hospital outside the US, but the dude is a general surgeon and all his residents talk about it. Patients don't have much autonomy here, so their discomfort isn't really acknowledged. I can't speak for what goes on inside the surgeons head though...

Mental porn, clearly.

i just read an article the other day about someone who was the other way around
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/04/66-year-old-hong-kong-man-is-woman_n_3382366.html

turner syndrome and congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Intersex pts will often surprise students in terms of gross anatomy and genetics, especially if they gloss over their chart before exposing, such an interesting and sometimes sad population (i.e., many now live with gender identity disorder thanks to impatient parents and eager surgeons at birth).

 

[45408]

Well, you know what they say...
"Where there are testicles, there is a penis."

I might have just made that up, but in my experience it has held true so far.

I'm surprised no one has come up with an exception to this yet

androgen insensitivity syndrome

 

[CDI]

androgen insensitivity syndrome

Sometimes I forget I'm on a medical forum...

 

[Spinach Dip]

Well, you know what they say...
"Where there are testicles, there is a penis."

I might have just made that up, but in my experience it has held true so far.

Go work in vet med for a week. You'll find the reverse is rarely true. 😛

 

[Guero]

Go work in vet med for a week. You'll find the reverse is rarely true. 😛

Nice!

 

[KateFlake]

i'm with team gloves on this one

 

[evilbooyaa]

As long as you take a big whiff of your fingers after a bare-handed testicular exam so the patient knows you're interested in them, then it's all cool. If you don't take a big whiff you just seem like a weirdo who should probably wear gloves.

 

[yehhhboiii]

As long as you take a big whiff of your fingers after a bare-handed testicular exam so the patient knows you're interested in them, then it's all cool. If you don't take a big whiff you just seem like a weirdo who should probably wear gloves.

everyone takes a whiff after touching balls
they just don't like talking about it
then again, it's usually their own

 

[Akali]

Getting to touch dudes' ball sacks is one of the main reasons I wanted to get into medicine. #nogloves