Are the Instruments Visible?

When you enter the exam room at your gyn or general prac doctor, do you see the speculum (or specula) sitting out waiting for you or is it hidden in a drawer or cabinet? What about other items used in the exam such as lubricant, pap smear sticks, anoscopes, and other unknown devices, etc. I would be interested to know.

Whenever I've been they have been in drawers etc and they get them out and ready while you're getting into position, so you sometimes see them out of the corner of your eye, but they're not there glinting at you...

At the military hospitals that I have been to, even when I am there for a different reason than a woman's exam, they often have all the items laying out on a small wheeled tray. The items are usually covered with a small napkin or something like that. It is great to think that these regular military primary care managers (doctors) do woman's exams so often, that they have the tools out all the time.

At my wife's gyn exams the speculum are in the drawer. The KY and guiac card for the rectal are out on the counter.

At the doc I usually go to the specula are in a drawer but all there are gloves a pap kit and lube on a paper towel on the nearby counter.

Easy to spot and close at hand.

I think at the gyn the instruments are pretty much out in the opening more. They also usually have the stirrups pretty visible. On the counter there's always the half-squeezed mega-size tube of K-Y or Surgilube with the top off and a glob oozing down onto the counter. On top of the wall cabinets there were specula by the CASES in cardboard boxes! It's obvious there are lots of girls opening wide down there. Pull open a exam table drawer and they are crammed full of them and anoscopes too.

However, at a general practitioner, or a doc in the box where some girls I know have had to get pre-employment physicals, or you go to for simple ailments they seem to be hidden. It always left them wondering how far the exam was going to go. I mean you don't see the stirrups or the instruments so you get relaxed. Do any of you ever get surprises for these types of examinations?

As a playdoctor and Gynecologist I have some already prepared instruments and other "hidden". There are allways "hidden" instruments specially at a first play exam.

In some case as I do "taylor" exams to patients tastes according to previous chats and contacts some instruments more "scary, like a tenaculum and an auvard speculum" maybe visible even if I am not planning to use them

(still we never konw...)

When I go to the doctor, most always everything is laid out and ready.

When I go for exams the instruments amd the stirrups are ready and in plain view. there is usually a paper gown or vest and a drape sitting thee on the exam table wating for me when I walk into the room.

When I went with my girlfriend, the latex gloves, tube of ky, and pap smear containers/brushes were in plain sight on a metal tray while the metal speculums were in the drawer below. There was a cotton gown on the exam table as well as a paper sheet for her to put over her lap. The stirrups were not out in plain view yet.

In my doctor's exam room there is always a tray containing everything needed for a woman's pelvic exam, including lubricant used for rectal exams for both sexes. She does a LOT of physicals.

Usually everything is covered with a paper towel until the start of the exam.

I have sometimes seen in training videos the doctor has the speculum submerged in warm water. I read somewhere that they suggest using water for lubrication because using a lubricant like KY can throw off the pH needed to take an accurate sample during the pap smear.

From my pediatrician visits I remember that there were always two things - trash bin half full of used exam gloves (always sparked my imagination) and a wheeled tray next to the exam table where the doc apparently had all the stuff that what needed in 'that part' of the exam such as box of exam gloves, tubes, tissues, etc. The first few times I was too scared and embarrassed to even notice what was there but later when I was a bit more relaxed and new what was to happen I paid more attention to that tray and saw that actually there were also things which I never needed to endure like thermometers! I was maybe 12 at that time and that sparked my imagination and I could not help thinking if some kids actually got those used as well.. It never happened to me but the visits after that I always checked and they were always there.. 😃

When I'm at the ob/gyn the nurse takes my vitals and asks me about my health in general. Then she lays a gown out on the table and leaves the box of gloves, a tube of lube, and the speculum out on a tray. A few minutes later comes a knock on the door and the dr. comes in. So, yes, I get to see everything.

At my ob/gyn, one nurse takes me to a room for vitals and height and weight. Then another nurse escorts me to the exam room where a gown is folded on the table. The stirrups are always out. There is a box of gloves on the counter and the materials for the pap smear. After a while the doctor comes in and begins the exam. When it is time for me to get into the stirrups, the doctor pages the nurse that had previously escorted me to the exam room. She enters the room with a tray that has a speculum in a bowl of warm water. She then assists the doctor with the gyn exam.

I have seen gloves, lube and the wooden sticks on the counter most times, don't know where she hides the speculum. A funny story, in her office there are toys under the exam table. My son was quite shocked when he slid open the door in another doctor's office to find a pile of plastic speculum individually wrapped.

My doctor keeps the speculums in the drawer under the exam table, along with the pap smear obtaining material. The stirrups are kept stowed until needed during the exam. The paper gown and drape are in a cabinet against the wall. The nurse pulls them out when she takes me back. Vitals are done in the exam room.

The equipment is on a metal trolley, but covered up with paper, obviously set up before you get into the room. When the trolley is positioned next to the couch and the patient is ready for the smear test/exam, only then does the Nurse uncover the trolley and you get to see all the goodies on display. Once finished with, the trolley is then re-covered with the paper and moved away before you get up off the couch. Very professional I think.

A little over a month ago a was fortinate to be able to attend one of my wife's annual gyn exams and i was surprised that the instruments weren't visible. The only thing that the nurse took out prior to the exam was a plastic brush and small specimin container for the brush and the cells collected. Once my wife was undressed and the breast exam was completed by the doctor, she then scooted down to the edge of the table and placed her feet into the stirrups and at that time her doctor grabed rubber gloves from the cabinet drawer put them on and then pulled out a drawer/tray from under the exam table that had a plastic speculum, tube of lube and a few other swabs that i couldn't see from the angle i was sitting at. Once the exam was complete the speculum and gloves were dropped into the trash and the drawer/tray was pushed back into the exam table and the stirrups were also put back into the table as well.

Yes, everything is usually out on a tray next to the exam table. The stirrups are also usually already extended. I can see the speculum and the swabs laying there.

Instruments are usually in the table drawers, correct ?

My doctor has them in a draw and just pull out what they need when they need it.

At my wife's exam's, the only thing visible when you first walk in is a box of gloves and a bottle of Fem-Glide on the counter. The stirrups are stowed in the table and the speculum is in the warming drawer in the table. The swabs and container are in the cabinet. Dr. gets everything out herself during the procedure.

Ost of the gyn i have seen have everything they need in the open.

Her current doctor has bags of speculum on the counter and all the required swabs in pots.

That is why her total exam time is under 1 min.

During the exams I have been to with girlfriends, and now my wife, the stirrups are usually fully extended when you walk in the room, but the speculums and gloves are in a drawer at the foot of the exam table. The nurse usually pulls the pap kit out of a cabinet and hands it to the doctor one he has the speculum fully expanded. When they are done I usually see them drop the used speculum in the sink. I have never seen an ob/gyn use a plastic speculum. They are always metal.

At my girlfriends visit, lube and gloves are out, but everything else is tucked away in a drawer.

About ten years ago I had to go to the Practice Nurse for a tetanus booster which was required by my work. As I was standing in her room taking my puller off and rolling up my shirt sleeve I glanced over to the work top and saw three metal speculums in a metal tray next to the sterilizer. i don't know f they had been sterilized or were about to be but it was worth the visit.

What you normally see are gloves, wodden spatulas, brushes for smear. The other tools are normally in a heated drawer or in a cabinet but are not visible.

When my wife has her check ups by the radiology oncologist, the speculum and packet of lube are on the counter and sheet for her drape is on table.

Me too.the gloves are one the wall but the speculum are in the table.we cant see it. therefor there is a box of speculum over the cabinet. its surprising that they passed enough of it to buy it in a such big box...