Medical Chaperone Policy

Summary of USU's Student Health and Wellness Center Chaperone Policy

Revision Date: January 6, 2023

Download the full Chaperone Policy

Why a Chaperone Policy?

Among other reasons, the goals of this policy are to:

  • Prioritize the safety, privacy and dignity of all patients
  • Enhance patient understanding of healthcare procedures
  • Help patients understand that they can ask questions and stop an examination or procedure at any time they feel uncomfortable
  • Promote an organizational culture of safety and care

Sensitive Examination

This policy defines sensitive examinations or procedures to include genital, rectal, and breast exams. Student Health and Wellness Center (SHWC) recognizes that some patients consider any visual exam or palpation of a body part that is normally covered by clothing to be sensitive. For this reason, SHWS will also accept and respect our patients' right to request a chaperone for any exam they feel would make them uncomfortable, even if it falls outside this policy’s definition of a sensitive examination

Chaperone

This person is a trained observer who, by mutual understanding and agreement, is present during an exam or procedure to support patient dignity, privacy and consent, and to foster effective communication between provider and patient.

In the SHWC, medical assistants and nursing staff will serve as chaperones. A patient’s friend or family serving as their companion is not a substitute for a trained chaperone.

Policy

  1. Every patient being treated at USU SHWC has the right to request a chaperone for any type of examination.
  2. Every patient who needs a sensitive exam defined as a genital, rectal, or breast examination will be accompanied by a chaperone. Clinicians will explain to patients the rationale for the exam, what to expect during the exam, and the role of the chaperone.
  3. A patient has the right to decline a chaperone during a sensitive exam. In this case, the SHWC provider will the patient in finding alternative options for follow-up care.
  4. SHWC providers will document 1) whether a chaperone was present, and if so, who served in this capacity, or 2) that a chaperone was offered but declined.