Chaperoning medical students during the physical examination of patients.

Dear Editor, The Singapore Medical Council recommends that a female chaperone be present when male doctors examine female patients to protect patients’ rights to dignity and privacy, and doctors from accusations of molestation. In some instances, female doctors examining patients without chaperones may also be subjected to harassment by male patients. The chaperoning of medical students during a patient’s examination and extent of harassment of female medical students by male patients has not been examined locally before. We determined the proportion of male medical students who have examined female patients without a chaperone and female medical students who have been harassed by male patients before. An anonymous survey was conducted on 4th and 5th (fi nal) year medical students in October 2007. Male students were asked 2 questions on the examination of female patients with a female chaperone and 3 questions of availability of female chaperones at clinical teaching settings. Female students were asked if they have ever been harassed by male patients and if they felt they needed a chaperone when examining male patients. Chi-square test was used to compare proportions within gender and ethnicity. Ethics approval for the study was obtained. The response rates for 4th and 5th years were 73.0% (176/241) and 82.1% (192/234), respectively. Males accounted for 55% of the study population. The survey results are detailed in Table 1. Although nearly 90% of Chaperoning Medical Students During the Physical Examination of Patients