Gynecological teaching assistants aim to reduce pap smear discomfort
UKPulse Health Desk
Gynecological teaching assistants (GTAs) are helping medical students learn to perform pap smears and breast exams without causing discomfort, challenging the common belief that these procedures must be painful.
- GTAs are laypeople who help medical students practice pap smears and breast exams.
- The aim of GTA training is to teach students how to perform these exams without causing discomfort.
- Pap smears have reduced cervical cancer-related deaths by 86%, but many women avoid them due to discomfort and embarrassment.
Gynecological teaching assistants (GTAs) are working to ensure that medical students learn to perform pap smears and breast exams without causing discomfort. This initiative challenges the common belief that these procedures must be painful.
Molly Callahan, a full-time GTA, helps medical students practice these exams before they work with patients. She states that she does not experience physical pain even after a busy work week, where she may have up to 16 speculum insertions.
Historically, pelvic exams and pap smears were performed on anesthetised patients until the 1970s, when GTAs became more common to improve ethics and educational quality. GTAs provide real-time feedback to students, helping them to centre the patient's voice.
Despite pap smears reducing cervical cancer-related deaths by 86%, many women avoid them due to perceived lack of symptoms, confusion around guidelines, and, most commonly, discomfort and embarrassment associated with the speculum.
Why this matters: The work of GTAs could lead to more comfortable experiences for patients undergoing pap smears, potentially increasing participation in these vital cervical cancer screening tests.
What this means for you: If you find speculum exams painful, you can communicate this to your healthcare provider at the start of an appointment and ask for what would make the experience more comfortable.