Robotic Rectums Can Train Doctors to Better Probe Down There

[47of74]

Science Stack

A new device could change rectal exams for the better. Designed at Imperial College London, a robotic rectum creates a more true-to-life training experience for young doctors and nurses, allowing more precise training, Science Alert reports.

Medical schools already use model butts to teach students rectal exam protocol, but this one provides a more accurate learning environment. The silicon rectum can be altered to mimic normal variations in anatomy as well as the feeling of a cancerous gland. Hooked up to a computer, the robotic butt visualizes what is happening within the rectum in a 3D model as the trainee is going through the exam.

"We have already asked a number of doctors and nurses—including prostate specialists and cancer surgeons—to trial the technology," the robotic rectum’s creator, Alejandro Granados, said in a press release. "They commented on the great advantage of being able to alter the anatomy. The size and shape of the rectum and prostate can vary greatly from person to person, and this technology enables medics to practice their skills in many different virtual patients."

They also noted that because these examinations are performed solely by feel, experiencing a realistic sensation is crucial, Granados said. To that end, in order to study the best trajectory and pressure a doctor should apply during an exam, Granados and his team are also going to deploy small fingertip pressure sensors that doctors can wear while examining patients, which will collect data about how experienced practitioners do their work.

[Adsos Letter]

1. I cannot respond to this.

I don't dare.

[pinboy3niner]

2. I hear you, C3P0

[Adsos Letter]

7. "France would hang me."

"And maybe France would be right."

[pinboy3niner]

8. Fear not, Richelieu

It's an English plot with bad teeth.

[Adsos Letter]

10. "Would you say there are many of them?"

"I'm not God, to see through a bloody hill."

[MADem]

3. I know it is a hackneyed phrase, but if we can put a man on the moon, why can't

we come up with a better way to conduct these exams without the patient having to play hand puppet to often clumsy doctors?

[Aristus]

4. I didn't practice on robots. I practiced on real human beings.

It was weird. For a cash honorarium, volunteers came to the school to get their prostates examined by nervous students. We each got two practice exams, and the rest we would do in the field, during our clinical rotations.

The vaginal exams were even weirder. The volunteers were nurses, for the most part. In a jarring and vulnerable setting, we had to learn how to do pelvic and bimanual exams. For my turn, the volunteer (and nurse) had to talk me through the whole thing. She was patient and instructive, like she had been doing it all her life, but it was a bizarre experience for me.

Now I do both in clinic all the time. I do probably 3-4 pelvic exams a week, and 1 or 2 prostate exams. I still occasionally have patients ask me: "How can you do this all day?" But it has long since become second nature to me.

[rug]

9. How much is the honorarium?

[Aristus]

11. I don't know. I didn't ask my volunteer.

It would have seemed rude to insert a finger in his rectum, and then ask: "How much are you getting for this?"

[rug]

12. Not if the patient asked you.

[3catwoman3]

23. While a broke grad student in my nursing...

...master's program, I was once a "model" patient for students in the women's health practitioner program who needed to learn pelvic exams.

At the risk of TMI, I have a backwards tilted uterus, a normal variation. This does make it hard to find that particular organ, and it was passingly amusing to watch their facial grimaces as they struggle to locate it. I had to critique them as part of their learning, and I would gently suggest that they learn to keep the proverbial straight face, and, of course, tell them why they had experienced such difficulty while examining me.

While I was an undergrad, I remember hearing a male med student talk about how embarrassed he had been, while doing his first breast exam, when his patient reached over with a tissue and mopped his forehead because he was dripping sweat on her.

[True Dough]

5. I clenched

just reading that article!

[pinboy3niner]

13. Relax, people! It's not robots going up our asses.

It's just doctors trained by robots going up our asses. Whew! That makes me feel so much better about somebody going up my ass.

But seriously, who can complain about doctors doing this to us being well-trained?

[rug]

14. You would think somebody would have invented an electrical device to stick up your ass by now.

[pinboy3niner]

15. That's been done, but I don't even want to think about it.

It was not in medical settings.

[madinmaryland]

21. Ordering up an ass-kicking for pinboy3niner by Skittles!

YES INDEED!!

[Major Nikon]

16. And here I thought Trump was the only perfect asshole

[3catwoman3]

24. OK - you are...

...the thread winner, IMO.

[Big_K]

17. Only problem is....

.... they fart batteries.

[47of74]

18. As long as it's a variety of batteries.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

28. That sounds like *>>pththTTHHPPTthshshplbbb<<*

((excuse me))

A win-win!

[First Speaker]

19. Hmmm...I suspect the phrase "robotic rectums" has a long and happy future ahead of it...

[pinboy3niner]

20. They're already set to open next week at the Troubador

[hibbing]

26. I knew someone would beat me to it!

Renaldo and the Robotic Rectums

Peace

[Kaleva]

22. It was just a matter of time before my job was taken over by a robot.

I can't complain though. 40 years in this interesting career is a good run and it's time for my ass to to put to pasture.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

29. Nice work

If you can get it.

[lunatica]

25. The next robot should have the perfect bedside manner while conducting exams

[Blue Owl]

27. Computers are now assholes

n/t

[jmowreader]

30. I'm a little surprised here

The paucity of Republican jokes on this thread shows remarkable restraint.