Medical necesity
The speculum is a medical device invented and designed by a men in the 1870's, and since this time, it almost hasn't envolved. However, a large majority of women affirms that the pelvic exam with speculum is very unpleasant, or even painful for some of them. A part of the health professionals (gynecologists and midwives) are aware of this problem and want a modernisation of the speculum and best pelvic exam conditions for the women as well. We investigated about the women needs and created a survey that has been aswered by more than 300 women. The results are clear: 52% of the women qualified the pelvic examn with speculum as unpleasant, 21% of them said that it is painful. The main inconveinients described by the women are: the sensation of coldness, the pinch of the viginal wall when the closing of the device, the pain caused by the opening of the device and the sensation of tension inside the vagiana. We did an investigation of the health professsional needs as well and made a survey for the gynecologists and midwives. In the results, it can be observed that a majority of them affims that the design of the speculum is not adapted to all the woman morphologies.
After than 150 yeas withaout evolution, th time has come for re-design the speculum, taking into account the well-being of the women.