When doing a pap, isn't the doc LOOKING in that general area? I would think that one would recognize a cervix vs no-cervix. ......... I had a student attempt to perform a pap on me once. Hurt me terribly while "looking around" and then announced she couldn't find my cervix. As far as I know, there aren't any bends or curves there, so how hard is it?
Just to clarify, my earlier post had to do with the manual exam that "feels" for masses and not the speculum exam that "looks".
As to your question, yes, it is very easy for an inexperienced student, who has not had much "hands on" experience with female anatomy to get lost.
Get a man's sock, hold it between your thumb and the other four fingers, point the sock hand straight towards the floor and then slide your other hand into the sock and straight towards the floor.
The other hand slides right in to the end of the sock without much problem.
Now, hold the sock hand at an angle that is not pointing straight towards the floor and try to slide the other hand in. Since you have the angle wrong, your hand is catching the sides of the sock and getting stuck. The harder you push, the more "stuck" it gets.
The same thing happens to the inexperienced student. They get the speculum angle wrong, they are catching the sides of the vagina and they push harder because they think the problem is that they are not deep enough. Eventually, if they ever S-C-R-A-P-E their way to the end, the cervix will eventually "pop" into the end of the speculum.
It could be worse.
I once had a resident call me into his barium enema study to ask why the rectum looked so funny and why the barium would not flow any further.
I replied that it probably had something to do with the fact that he had just performed a barium study on a normal vagina.
Experience........There is no substitute for it but, unfortunately, we are not born with it.
And that is exactly what it FELT like she was doing! LOL! I've only had students practice procedures on me a few times. They've got to learn somehow, so I try to be understanding. But that hurt like a son of a gun!
Here's an idea for you! Can you invent a speculum that doesn't make that hideous screwing-into-place noise? That really is one of the worst sounds (and feeling, since I can feel the vibration) in the world to me.
ROFLOL!