Does Patient Ethnicity or Sonographer Gender Have Any Bearing on Patient Acceptability of Transvaginal Ultrasound?

Abstract

Transvaginal ultrasound scanning (TVS) has become the first line radiological investigation of the female pelvis in many hospitals. Previous research looking at patient acceptability of this technique rarely includes any reference to male sonographers or patient ethnicity. The aim of this study was to assess whether these factors had any bearing on patient acceptability of TVS. The study was carried out in an inner city hospital serving a large multi-ethnic population and employing several male sonographers. A simple questionnaire was completed by 147 patients who had both transabdominal (TA) and transvaginal ultrasound (TV) examinations at the time of their appointment. The study found general acceptability of TVS to be high, with 99.3% of patients who would have it again if their doctor suggested it. Acceptability also increased with respondent age and if previously pregnant. Overall, 70.1% of respondents were willing to be scanned transvaginally by a male sonographer with a female chaperone present. Variation was shown here between ethnic groups with 81% in the white Caucasian group and 58.3% in the Turkish group. This was not statistically significant. None of the white Caucasian group had any religious/cultural objections to being examined by a male practitioner compared with 25% of the Turkish group and 23% of the mixed 'Other' group. Limitations of the study included its sample size, especially of some of the ethnic groups. Some groups were combined to analyse the data, which resulted in the loss of specific information. A larger multicentre study is recommended to overcome these problems.