16+ years in practice as an anesthesiologist, I am perplexed on an almost daily basis at the level of discomfort with any sort of reference to our productive/sexual anatomy. And, it is far from limited to women! Having been involved &/or directly performed until thousands of surgical procedures on both sexes, the PreOp interview consistently manifests a profound lack of knowledge & frank discomfort with strictly clinical questions. Anecdotally, it seem to become progressively more present with advancing age, but young people - who are adept with seeking the span of human knowledge via a vis the internet, definitely suffer as well.

Women commonly whisper when they are fearing to their reproductive organs or employ euphemisms such as "lady cancer". Many women just will not refer to their genitals, employ euphemisms, or stare with an embarrassed look on their faces. It is disturbingly common for ladies to inquire as to how many will see "down there" or, less commonly, to request all female OR crews. We do our best to reassure them that we are consummate professionals & we do our best honor such requests, but it is just not always feasible.

An important part of "informed concent" is ensuring the patient has at least a fundamental understanding of the surgical procedure they are about to undergo. Hence, I ask every single patient, old enough to know, "In your own words, please tell me what sort of surgery are we doing today?" On prostate biopsy days in the outpatient surgery center, I would venture in excess of 2/3rds of men actively avoid the use of the word prostate or nod in its direction or emphemistically say "down there".

The obvious & rather knee-jerk solutions is education. But, effectively countering generational sources of mythology is a challenge, especially in the brief time course of the peri-operative space.

I would absolutely love to hear how you go about educating & easing the minds of your patients in a positive, productive manner.

Thanks in advance!