Do I Need a Chaperone? - Episode 22
In this episode of the Marrón Pelvic Health podcast, Dr. Kari Roberts explores whether you need a chaperone during your first pelvic exam. She discusses the legalities associated with chaperones in medical exams and delves into various personal factors such as sensitivity, intimacy, trust, and comfort. Dr. Roberts provides insights on when and why someone might prefer a chaperone and the options available, whether it's someone provided by the office or a trusted friend or family member. This episode aims to help listeners make an informed decision that best suits their comfort and needs during a pelvic health visit.
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Dr. Kari:
Have you ever wondered if you need someone there with you when you go to your first pelvic exam? If so, stick around. I'm going to dive right into that topic. Welcome to the Marone Pelvic Health podcast. Hi, I'm your host, Doctor Kerry Roberts. On this show, we will be discussing a variety of things regarding your pelvic health. These conversations will be a mix of education, personal experiences, and a blend of tips you can apply to have a healthier pelvis. The goal of this show is to normalize conversations around pelvic health and help women stop suffering in silence. So do you need a chaperone for this visit? The last episode I went through the things that you can expect when you go to pelvic physical therapy, especially for the first time, and then more specifically, what you can expect if you come to see me directly. So then the next thing is, do you need someone with you? Do you want someone with you? Are you supposed to have someone there if you don't want them? What if you do want someone there? Are you allowed to bring someone? Those questions come up over and over again. The short answer is, it depends. It depends on you. It depends on what you want, and it depends on what you're comfortable with. But I wanted to go into a little bit deeper with this topic of a chaperone just so we can really get on the same page. So the first thing is, are you allowed to have a chaperone? Yes. You're always allowed to have a chaperone whenever you have any sort of medical exam, especially whenever you're having a physical therapy exam, assessment or a treatment visit. Legally, you're allowed to do that. So that's an option that you are willing to take? Most definitely. Also, legally, you're willing, youre able to say no. So some offices provide a chaperone and you can choose to say no. Whereas if you're getting a gynecological exam, that's not really an option. You always have to have a chaperone for that gynecological exam, whereas in pelvic physical therapy, it's optional. Now, why would someone want a chaperone? The same reasons why someone would want a chaperone with them is actually the same reasons why someone would not wanting a chaperone with them. And so there are four things that I wrote down that we can just kind of go through together to help you decide if you're going to bring a chaperone or ask for chaperone to be provided at your physical therapy public health visit. So the sensitive, the sensitivity of it all, the sensitive nature of the things that you will be discussing, the things that the public physical therapists will need to see, touch, feel, questions that will have to be explored. Sometimes people will feel more at ease with speaking with those sensitive things with someone in the room. Maybe they're maybe a close friend, maybe a parent, maybe a sexual partner, things like that. At the same time, a lot of times people will say, you know, due to the sensitivity of the content, I don't want to have someone with me. I just want it to be me and that practitioner. I feel a little uncomfortable discussing those things around someone I know. Or if chaperone is provided by the office, maybe you don't feel as comfortable discussing it around a stranger because of the sensitivity of the content. The next thing is the intimacy. It's a small, quiet, close, intimate environment. And so sometimes people might feel more at ease having a third party there that's neutral, having a friend or family there. Or some people might say due to the intimacy of what's going on, I'd rather not have, I'd rather not be there myself. So then I really don't want to have anybody else there. Either way, it's totally fine. The third thing is the trust, building that rapport, that trust with your provider. Sometimes you will feel more comfortable if you have someone else there, a third party there, provided from the office or a friend or a family member, a parent or a sexual partner. Whereas other times people feel more at ease and they feel like they're better able to put themselves in a position to build a bond, to build trust with their provider if they're there by themselves. And then the last thing which kind of goes over all of the aspects of why you would or wouldn't want a chaperone there with you is it just comes down to comfort, what will make you feel most comfortable? What will be the best environment for you to feel comfortable for the therapist to explain and describe and talk about the things that need to be talked about so that they can get the most out of that assessment and create a plan for you, and also what's going to be the best environment where you are going to be able to open up and share those details and allow that assessment to be completed, both the physical assessment and reviewing your history, your medical history. So all of those things come into play to help you decide if you do a chaperone at your visit. And just as a review, those four things are the sensitivity of the topics, the intimacy of the environment, and the topics the trust that needs to be built between you and the provider and your comfort level. Now, if you get through all of those things and you decide, yes, I do want a chaperone, then there are two different avenues you could go down. You can ask the provider to provide a chaperone for you, and that would be a third party that is not necessarily working for you or for the business. Or it could be someone on staff at the office. It might be someone that is a tech support. It might be office support, just a third party there at the office. Or you could bring your own chaperone that again, it could be your friend, a family, a sexual partner, a parent, a brother, sister, whatever. So those are the options that you will need to consider when you're thinking about if you want to have a chaperoner next. And I hope that I gave you some good things to consider. And then the next episode, I'm going to discuss a little bit more on the business aspect of what's going on at Marone pelvic health before we jump back into that more clinical, real life type of details that I've been sharing with you. So thanks again, and I'll be back to you in a couple of weeks with another new episode. 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