Yep. Even as a mere medic, we are supposed to at least consider any woman from 9 to 99 could be pregnant. And it fast and easy to ask, assuming a responsive patient. The overwhelming number of times it didn’t play into my treatment plan doesn’t matter. All it takes is just one time to not consider it and someone can be severely injured or dead because I didn’t consider it. If I had any doubt about pregnant or not, I asked the patient straight up.
I think explaining rationale for what you’re doing can be very helpful for patient comfort (not to mention compliance). Cis man here, but on the one hand I hear about enough women’s medical concerns getting dismissed to understand why that might be the assumption even when there’s good reason; and just from my own experience I like to understand what providers are thinking / working on with me.
I’m not a doctor. I was a medic for 15 years. Generally we, (at least I did), always try to explain things if there is time. But the time I have to explain what’s happening and why can be in very short supply as a medic. Sometimes it’s an “Oh shit! We gotta go! We gotta go NOW!” moment. Plus it’s just you and me in the back. So I was often busier than a one handed milk maid at milking time and had very little time for pleasantries.
And doctors face their own time crunch. If you have ever paid attention to the scheduling your appointment, they are in 15 minute blocks. And then they need to be on to the next patient while trying to find the time to chart their encounter with you. There are few of them and an endless supply of patients. And they need to keep that assembly line moving. If they spent as much time with their patients as THEY would like, imagine how long you would be sitting in that waiting room. You better bring drinks and a sandwich. Possibly a blanket.
And there ain’t any medical system that has enough doctors anywhere on this planet either to make things better for the doctors or the patients.
Yep. Even as a mere medic, we are supposed to at least consider any woman from 9 to 99 could be pregnant. And it fast and easy to ask, assuming a responsive patient. The overwhelming number of times it didn’t play into my treatment plan doesn’t matter. All it takes is just one time to not consider it and someone can be severely injured or dead because I didn’t consider it. If I had any doubt about pregnant or not, I asked the patient straight up.
I think explaining rationale for what you’re doing can be very helpful for patient comfort (not to mention compliance). Cis man here, but on the one hand I hear about enough women’s medical concerns getting dismissed to understand why that might be the assumption even when there’s good reason; and just from my own experience I like to understand what providers are thinking / working on with me.
I’m not a doctor. I was a medic for 15 years. Generally we, (at least I did), always try to explain things if there is time. But the time I have to explain what’s happening and why can be in very short supply as a medic. Sometimes it’s an “Oh shit! We gotta go! We gotta go NOW!” moment. Plus it’s just you and me in the back. So I was often busier than a one handed milk maid at milking time and had very little time for pleasantries.
And doctors face their own time crunch. If you have ever paid attention to the scheduling your appointment, they are in 15 minute blocks. And then they need to be on to the next patient while trying to find the time to chart their encounter with you. There are few of them and an endless supply of patients. And they need to keep that assembly line moving. If they spent as much time with their patients as THEY would like, imagine how long you would be sitting in that waiting room. You better bring drinks and a sandwich. Possibly a blanket.
And there ain’t any medical system that has enough doctors anywhere on this planet either to make things better for the doctors or the patients.