Postpartum recovery male doctor

As long as you are a certified postpartum rehabilitation physician in a formal medical institution, professionalism will always be the first screening criterion. As for the privacy and embarrassment issues that everyone is worried about, under the formal operating procedures, more than 90% of the concerns can be avoided in advance. If you really mind, it is absolutely fine to choose a female doctor according to your own wishes.

We encountered such a situation last Wednesday. The 28-year-old Ms. Lin was reviewed 42 days after her vaginal delivery. Her pelvic floor muscle assessment score was only 32 points, and she also had a mild anterior wall bulge. She was originally called Dr. Li from our department. There happened to be an emergency call for massive bleeding in the delivery room that day. Dr. Li was called over temporarily to provide support, and the guide assigned her to me. When she entered the door, she saw a male doctor. His knuckles were turning white as he clutched the bandage. He stood by the bedside for a long time and refused to sit down. Her husband stood in the corridor and held the door open every two minutes to ask, "Do you want us to come back another day?"

In fact, there have been two completely different voices in the industry for so many years, and I will never deny either one. Many colleagues feel that postpartum recovery itself involves a large number of examinations and operations on private parts. Female doctors are naturally more empathic with patients. Mothers who have just given birth have unstable hormone levels and are emotionally sensitive. It is easier to relax in front of a female doctor. If they are too nervous, their muscles will tighten. , on the contrary, it will affect the accuracy of the pelvic floor muscle assessment, and the effect of subsequent manual treatment will also be compromised. This statement is completely valid. In the first two years of my work, I met particularly resistant patients, and I would directly help them make an appointment with a female doctor. I would never say anything more to force others to do so.

But I also agree with another statement - gender should never be a reason to deny a doctor's professionalism. If you check the list of top pelvic floor surgery experts in the country, most of them are men. Many male colleagues around me who are doing postpartum rehabilitation have more stable control over the strength of their techniques, especially for mothers who have more than three fingers of rectus abdominis separation and whose pubic symphysis is so painful that it is difficult to even turn over. The penetration of the techniques can often shorten the recovery period by one-third. Last month, a mother had 3.5 fingers of rectus abdominis separation. After two months of repair at an outside institution, it was of no use at all. She came to our department and saw me for 6 manipulations. After another test, only 1 finger was left. She later told me that she almost turned around and left when she knew it was a male doctor at the beginning, but luckily he didn't run away.

Many people don’t know that there are hard and fast rules for postpartum rehabilitation operations in regular hospitals: any examination and treatment involving private parts must be accompanied by a female medical staff throughout the process. The curtains around the diagnosis and treatment bed are tightly drawn. Before all operations, I will tell you clearly in advance "which side of you will I touch next and for what purpose?" I carry an orange hard candy in my white coat pocket all the year round. When I meet a mother who is too nervous, I will give one to her. I will eat the candy and chat about the children at home. Most people will relax while chatting. Last time, a mother complained to me for ten minutes. Her mother-in-law forced her to drink lard every day to make breast milk. When she left, she forgot that I was a male doctor.

Of course, I would not advise everyone to choose a male doctor for postpartum recovery. If you are particularly concerned about gender, and your whole body gets tight when you think of taking off your pants in front of a male doctor, then there is no need to force yourself. Postpartum recovery is supposed to be about relaxing, and if you are as tense as a stretched bow, it will be of no use to you, no matter how powerful the doctor is. But if you happen to meet a male doctor with a good reputation and who is good at solving your problems, don’t kill him at once. There is really no need to miss out on a treatment plan that is more suitable for you because of your gender.

Speaking of which, I have been working in this field for 8 years, and the question I have heard most often is "How can you, a man, do postpartum recovery?" Actually, to put it bluntly, in the eyes of doctors, there is no gender distinction when you put on a white coat. What we always think about is how to help you lift your pelvic floor muscles and retract your rectus abdominis muscles so that you don't suffer from urinary leakage and back pain when you are in your 40s or 50s. This is better than anything else. Oh, by the way, if you really call me next time, don’t ask this question as soon as you walk in. I’ve heard it eight hundred times, haha.