Table 3 Themes of respondents’ free-text comments (N = 105)
From: Neonatal circumcision availability in the United States: a physician survey
Theme | Frequency | Representative auotation |
|---|---|---|
Circumcision availability at institution or region | 41 (39.0%) | “If a family wants to have it done it is easy to get it performed” “There are no in-hospital postpartum circumcisions in the state of Nevada” |
Provider availability | 30 (28.6%) | “Providers can opt out of requested circumcision. This is increasing and parents are left to find circumcision services” “I get a lot of outpatient referrals because the rounding OB wasn’t ‘comfortable’ performing circs or logistically there wasn’t time to have it done before the family was discharged.” |
Insurance and payment | 13 (12.4%) | “The major limitation is financial - may families can not afford to self-pay, and Medicaid and most private insurances do not cover neonatal circumcisions in our state.” “…we accept Medicaid reimbursement so patients then don’t have to pay anything. We really [don’t] let it [be] known too much that we do [them] in the office and don’t charge Medicaid because it would be too many coming.” |
Ethics and personal opinions | 13 (12.4%) | “If this is being performed for cosmetic reasons only, it should not be permitted” “Just laying out my own bias that we should not do these (routine elective) procedures anymore. Sure there are indications and personal/cultural reasons but they could be outpatient.” |
Circumcision eligibility | 11 (10.5%) | “Excluded if family refuses Vitamin K at birth” “Some OBs will not do the circumcision, for prematurity (arbitrary cutoff), if the penis is too small, or if they are NICU.” |
Uncertainty about circumcision practices | 6 (5.7%) | “Unfortunately, not sure of exact weight limit at my institution” “Unsure what the practice is for premature infants at my institution” |