Stirrups or no stirrups for routine speculum examinations?: Patient comfort is secondary to cervical smear quality…

doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7562.304-b

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Anne Spaar (Anne.Spaar@usz.ch), research fellow,
Milo A Puhan, senior research fellow

Horten Centre for Patient-oriented Research and Knowledge Transfer, University Hospital of Zurich, Postfach Nord, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland
Horten Centre for Patient-oriented Research and Knowledge Transfer, University Hospital of Zurich, Postfach Nord, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland

EDITOR—Seehusen et al suggest performing gynaecological examinations without stirrups to reduce stress for women.1 They also conclude that examination without stirrups does not affect the quality of cervical smears. Their study tackles the problem of discomfort during gynaecological examinations, which may hamper adherence to cervical cancer screening, but several aspects should be considered in interpreting the results.

The …