I went for a routine screening today at the University Health Clinic, and the physician did a full visual exam without using any gloves whatsoever, and had full contact with my genitals. I will note that he did, however, wash his hands with hand sanitizer afterwards. Any thoughts on this practice? I mean if hes doing it with me hes doing it with all his patience, some of whom im sure have STDs
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Questionable testing practice, any thoughts?
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As long as the doc is washing his hands and doing proper hand sanitation than I say he and you are fine.
I am sure if he was with a contaminated patient or if something remotely looks suspicious he would use gloves. Though, if I was him, I would be using gloves all the time but I am also overly cautious.
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that just seems wrong to me....any doctor should know that they should be wearing gloves when examining a patient...regardless of the hand sanitizer or not. germs are crazy in any type of health clinic..
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It would be kind of wierd if a doctor did put on a pair of gloves if he were examining an arbitrary patient in a normal examination room situation. The important thing is that he wash his hands. Doctors_ like to palpate (feel) things, and gloves make the process less precise and sensitive. Of course, I would expect him to put on gloves if he were going to do something like a rectal exam.Gloves would be mainly for his protection though, not yours. The gloves that come out of the box in the examining room are not sterile, and the outside of them are handled while they are put on.There are specific guidlines for handwashing, and I like it when the doctor_ washes his hands in the examining room before he touches me. It lets me see that he's doing a thorough job, and that he's not touching rhings like doorknobs after washing.Edit: Oops, I missed that part. I'm not sure that it's appropriate to touch genitals without putting on gloves.[Note: Underlines added to keywords to defeat ad insertion software.]