Unexpected enlightening of a “female world”. Male medical students’ experiences of learning and performing the first pelvic examination

ObjectiveTo gain a deeper understanding of how undergraduate male medical students experience a pelvic examination learning concept and performing the first pelvic examination (PE) on a professional patient.Study designA qualitative study. In-depth interviews with 12 male medical students’ after their involvement in a learning session about the PE, with professional patients and a supervising gynecologist as instructors. The interviews were analyzed according to the constant comparative method, a variety of content analysis, to acquire a deeper understanding of the students’ experiences and the ongoing social processes.ResultsThe essence of the entire analysis was “Unexpected enlightening of a ‘female world’” and was identified from the three categories; “Not just any exam”, “Professional supportive interaction” and “Humble awareness”. The male students’ most prominent concern was how to establish a professional rapport with the patient in the PE situation. Beneficial active support from the professional patient and the gynecologist assisted the students to overcome inherent barriers and facilitated the examination procedure. The informants gained “inside information” from the patients’ perspective of being examined leading to a new awareness about an earlier unknown “female world” that is what women might go through before and during a PE and an humble understanding of how vulnerable it is to be placed in the examination position.ConclusionThe beneficial PE learning concept promoted an unexpected insight in what a woman might experience during a PE, creating a humble awareness of this vulnerable intimate situation and ideas for how to establish professional rapport.