Abstract
Introduction:
The use of a clinical chaperone in clinically intimate examinations has always been recommended. This study investigates patients' views on the use of a clinical chaperone in breast and body cosmetic surgery.
Materials and Methods:
One hundred two female patients who underwent breast and body cosmetic procedures were offered the questionnaire, and all patients responded to the Web-based blog questionnaire as to their preference for a clinical chaperone during their clinic experience on 3 different occasions. These occasions comprised the initial cosmetic surgery consultations, preoperative markings, and postoperative visits. All patients involved in this study were treated by male clinicians, except 1 patient who had a female clinician.
Results:
t-test P-value significance was achieved at .05; the effect size was .4 (medium conventional effect size, in which responses were due to noise interference, where a small effect size is approximately .2), and the observed power was noted to be .835 where the responses collected reflected the population. A total of 33.3% (n = 34) of the patients indicated preferring a clinical chaperone be present on all 3 occasions. A total of 31.4% (n = 32) indicated they would prefer not to have a clinical chaperone present on these occasions. However, 11.8% (n = 12) had no preference as to whether a clinical chaperone was present on all 3 occasions. The remainder of the patients had mixed opinions on 1 or more of these occasions.
Conclusions:
Variable views on the use of a clinical chaperone among cosmetic surgery patients reflect the importance of the surgeon's judgment and discretion in dealing with the individual patient. In addition, offering the presence of a clinical chaperone allows patients to decide which is the optimal environment for them at a given time. Informing patients in advance regarding the components of the examination also helps to ease patients' anxiety.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.