(Pap) smear preparation US vs UK?

You can also go to a GUM clinic (genito-urinary medicine) if your trust has one close to you. Either ask your GP's office for the location, or find it on the webpage of your local trust.

No worries, its not a stupid question at all because its different in the UK. You have a pap done at your GP's office. Yes...a bit surprising, I say that because I had a real issue with that and didn't have one for a couple of years while in the UK. When I finally went, it was done by a nurse. There are no stirrups so its a bit awkward but luckily the nurses at my local surgery were great.

The no stirrups confused me as well. The nurse called me. No questions, no chit chat, undress bottom half, get on table. I didn't lie down because i didn't know what they do (long side of table was against a wall, and bottom of table was taken up by biohazzard trash recepticle). It was quite awkward... took 5 seconds. There was no palpation, no breast exam. Not even any questions about your activity.

I just had my first one last week. I had already had my "new patient exam" where I gave them my prescription information. When I told her I needed pills, she made me make an appointment for this week to go over it. I hadn't brought my pill packets with me because I'd already done that. So make sure if you haven't gotten pills before that you do that. It took her longer to figure out what kind of pill I was on (never did) and get me a new prescription than it did for the ENTIRE previous visit. I went to the pharmacy and picked it up no problem.

The no stirrups confused me as well. The nurse called me. No questions, no chit chat, undress bottom half, get on table. I didn't lie down because i didn't know what they do (long side of table was against a wall, and bottom of table was taken up by biohazzard trash recepticle). It was quite awkward... took 5 seconds. There was no palpation, no breast exam. Not even any questions about your activity.

How different!! My annual exams include blood pressure, history & physical, pap, breast exam, lab slip for blood work up (cholesterol, sugar, thyroid, hormones), and appointment for the mammogram. They've added the mammogram and some of the blood work since I turned 40, but otherwise the exam portion hasn't changed much since I was 20. I've never had a pap without the stirrups; is it more comfortable, the same, or more awkward?

Coming from a place that does them yearly, I have to admit that only have one every three years worries me a bit.

IIRC in the US they're now switching to every three years if you've had a number of normal smear tests in a row.

How different!! My annual exams include blood pressure, history & physical, pap, breast exam, lab slip for blood work up (cholesterol, sugar, thyroid, hormones), and appointment for the mammogram. They've added the mammogram and some of the blood work since I turned 40, but otherwise the exam portion hasn't changed much since I was 20. I've never had a pap without the stirrups; is it more comfortable, the same, or more awkward?

That is what I was use to as well, minus the mammogram part. It was awkward because of the position of the table in this room. But because there was no physical contact except the smear part, it was so fast it was easy enough.

They only do them every three years here, starting at age 25 I read somewhere, unless you have a history of problems. I asked about this because my mother had to have a hysterectomy at age 40 because of lumps that they were concerned about. It turned out to be benign, but she has since also had both breasts partially removed due to tumors (that again turned out to be benign) - but obviously there was concern. The nurse said that because they were not cancer, then I would only get my exam every three years until I was 50, then I could get one yearly. I think she said that's when they start mammograms as well, at 50, but the whole thing was so weird that I may have remembered that wrong.

As far as the physical you are use to, I didn't even get one during my NEW PATIENT EXAM. Very cursory family history questions, blood pressure, temperature, and urine specific gravity test. No listening to my heart or lungs. Even when I went in (twice in a week) with a tonsil infection, sinus infection, and cough, they did not take my temperature or listen to my lungs. They did ask if I had a fever, which I of course could not tell them. I have been told that this is normal, that when you have a problem, they look only at the problem. This concerns me a bit, because while I am healthy now, my family has had a lot of health problems. Heart disease, diabetes, lung disease, alzheimers. There is some comfort in getting a clean bill of health every year is all.

As far as the physical you are use to, I didn't even get one during my NEW PATIENT EXAM. Very cursory family history questions, blood pressure, temperature, and urine specific gravity test. No listening to my heart or lungs. Even when I went in (twice in a week) with a tonsil infection, sinus infection, and cough, they did not take my temperature or listen to my lungs. They did ask if I had a fever, which I of course could not tell them. I have been told that this is normal, that when you have a problem, they look only at the problem. This concerns me a bit, because while I am healthy now, my family has had a lot of health problems. Heart disease, diabetes, lung disease, alzheimers. There is some comfort in getting a clean bill of health every year is all.

Yes, there is something comforting in getting a clean bill of health every year. I don't like all the poking around, but it is routine here as you know. I forgot about the urine test, but that's also routine every year.

As far as the physical you are use to, I didn't even get one during my NEW PATIENT EXAM. Very cursory family history questions, blood pressure, temperature, and urine specific gravity test. No listening to my heart or lungs. Even when I went in (twice in a week) with a tonsil infection, sinus infection, and cough, they did not take my temperature or listen to my lungs. They did ask if I had a fever, which I of course could not tell them. I have been told that this is normal, that when you have a problem, they look only at the problem. This concerns me a bit, because while I am healthy now, my family has had a lot of health problems. Heart disease, diabetes, lung disease, alzheimers. There is some comfort in getting a clean bill of health every year is all.

This has been my experience too. When I go to my GP with a problem, he usually asks me how I feel and then diagnoses me based on what I said. I don't get examined, the way you would in a GPs office in the US. And my UK GP only treats the problem that I made the appointment about.

My new patient exam mostly involved my answering lots of questions.

I've never had anyone in the UK listen to my lungs despite my having asthma.

I also have lots of health problems in my family - heart disease, diabetes, lupus, hypothyroid. If I'm developing a problem, I'd like to know now, rather than when it gets so bad that I need to go into the hospital.

I prefer the smear without the stirrups, but that's just a personal preference.

I completely understand what some of the posters have said beyond my post. I thought the nurses were great but I stopped short of saying what I thought about the GP's at your local surgery...there were scary when it came to proper care.  I had more confidence in the two nurses there.

I didn't even a new patient exam.  I had gone there while a visitor, and paid my full fees, and I guess no one ever noticed I didn't get one.