超音波検査技術

Purpose: It is reasonable to presume that some female patients, especially young ones, would prefer female examiners for transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) because of the need to expose the chest. In our hospital, since October 2013, we have asked about “preference on the examiner’s gender” for female patients before TTE and we performed the examination according to their preference. The aims of this study were to elucidate real world evidence on their preference and to investigate whether it causes any delay in the logistics of providing the TTE service.

Subjects and Methods: All female patients who underwent clinically indicated TTE between October 2013 and September 2015 were enrolled and asked specifically ‘Would you prefer female examiners, or do you not care?’ Their answers were summarized according to their age groups. The lengths of waiting time were also compared among the groups.

Results and Discussion: Out of 1088 female patients (60.3±17.5 years old) who underwent TTE, 455 (41.9%) preferred female examiners and 631 (58.1%) did not care. The frequency of female patients who wanted female examiners generally decreased as their ages increased. However, 39% (27/70) of young female patients aged from 15 to 29 years showed no preference in the gender of the examiners, and 22% (26/120) of elderly ladies in their 80s and 90s preferred female examiners.

Conclusion: Less than half of the female patients preferred female examiners. Among older women, the preference for female examiners was less likely. Asking this question on the preference did not prolong the waiting period. Although there could be other problems such as human resources and differences in skills of examiners, this could be one way to satisfy patients’ preference in clinical settings.