Clinic changes to meet women's needs

Patient Dena Azevedo of Henderson sits still as Dr. Tyler Swindle listens to her heart.

“Patients are certainly more informed these days because of the Internet and television,” says Dr. Swindle, a gynecologist with the Woman’s Clinic. It’s been a gradual – and welcome – change, he says, from when he first started at the Woman’s Clinic in January 1975. “Patients not only were less informed then, they also didn’t ask questions and simply accepted what the doctor said.”

Having better informed patients is just one of many changes Dr. Swindle and his partners at the Woman’s Clinic have seen in the last few decades. Other changes...

• Patients get well more quickly and hospital stays are shorter because of less-invasive and innovative surgical procedures. The development of laparoscopic surgery, for example, which was pioneered by gynecologists, allows the physician to do some surgeries – from tubal ligations and ovarian cyst removals to even hysterectomies through small rather than large incisions, making recovery much quicker.
• More treatment and diagnosis is being done in the clinic rather than in the hospital. The Woman’s Clinic has grown to include a larger laboratory, bone density scanner, ultrasound unit, fetal monitors, and other diagnostic treatment procedures. For example, the physicians do in-office hysteroscopy procedures to detect intra-uterine problems and LEEP (loop eletro excision procedures) to diagnose and treat abnormal pap smears.
• The labor, delivery and recovery birth process has changed, including having fathers and other family members more involved, and the widespread use of epidural anesthesia so that the mother is alert during labor and delivery.
• Office staff has grown to meet the needs of an increased number of patients and bigger workload because of insurance and managed care products.

In many ways, Dr. Swindle says, today’s patients are healthier because they know more about prevention and because many problems are diagnosed earlier through such procedures as pap smears, mammograms, and self breast exams. On the other hand, he adds, he treats more high cholesterol problems and sexually transmitted diseases, particularly among younger patients. Obesity continues to be a problem.

When Dr. Swindle started at the Woman’s Clinic in 1975, he joined Dr. Lewis, Dr. Swan Burrus Jr. and Dr. Jimmy Webb. The clinic was already 25 years old, having been established in 1952 by the late Dr. Swan Burrus Sr. The small clinic was in a building on West Forest, Dr. Swindle says. “We had one insurance clerk, who also answered the phone and greeted patients.” The Woman’s Clinic moved to Roland Avenue in 1981 and then to its present site at 244 Coatsland in 1998.

Dr. Lewis and Dr. Burrus Jr. have since retired and Dr. Swindle and Dr. Webb see only gynecology patients. Practicing both obstetrics and gynecology at the clinic are Dr. Michael Epps, Dr. Molly Rheney, Dr. Paul Gray, Dr. Brad Adkins, Dr. Madhav Boyapati and Dr. David Soll. All of the physicians are board certified in obstetrics and gynecology. Nurse practitioners on staff are LaCinda Butler and Sandy Fronabarger.