Gynecology

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Gynecology Department, Gynaecology, Women's Health, Women's Care, Female Care, Obstetrics, Obstetrics Department, OB Clinic, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Obstetrician-Gynecologist, O&G, OB-GYN, OB/GYN, Pregnancy, Prenatal Care, Labor & Delivery

Category

Public Services, Public Facilities, Health Care, Clinical Facilities

Message / Function

To indicate the location of a clinical facility that deals with pregnancy and childbirth (obstetrics) and the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the female reproductive organs

	Source	Description
	Dumbar-WH	Frontal view of human figure, circle in genital area, breasts indicated by filled circles
	NYCHHC	Frontal view of standing female human figure, circle placed in abdominal area
A)	SEGD/HJ	Frontal view of standing female human figure, biology symbol for female placed in abdominal area
	alleBHP	Clipped female human figure, side view of fetus inside circle placed in abdominal area
	Vectorstall	Clipped female human figure with genital area and belly button indicated
	Angelica	Clipped female human figure, briefs and belly button indicated, hands on belly in outline
	Health Icons	Diagram of female reproductive system in frontal view

Obstetrics

	Dumbar-WH	Side view of standing pregnant female figure
C)	CNIS	Clipped side view of standing pregnant female figure
	Luis Prado	Clipped side view of standing pregnant female figure
	Aku-Johnson	Clipped side view of standing pregnant female figure
	SDA 1999	Side view of upper part of pregnant female figure shaped as heart in outline, fetus indicated by heart symbol
	Delwar Hossain	Clipped female human figure, side view of fetus inside circle placed in abdominal area
B)	SEGD/HJ	Clipped female human figure, side view of fetus inside circle placed in abdominal area
D)	Deng 2025	Clipped female human figure, side view of fetus inside circle placed in abdominal area
	D'source	Clipped female human figure, side view of fetus inside circle placed in abdominal area
	Erco	Clipped female human figure, side view of fetus inside circle placed in abdominal area, breasts indicated by circles
	Health Icons	Side view of fetus inside circle

Note: Some of the examples shown above were mirrored horizontally to contrast differences.

Discussion

As the postgraduate training program for the two subspecialties of obstetrics (covering pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period) and gynaecology (covering the health of the female reproductive system – vagina, uterus, ovaries, and breasts) (see Wikipedia) usually is combined, in several regions the term Gynecology encompasses both subspecialties. In the selection above, symbols regarding the term Gynecology are located in the top table, while pictograms focusing just on Obstetrics were placed in the bottom part. For each of the two subspecialties several image contents can be found.

In our research we discovered that there is only very limited test data available for the referent Gynecology and related subjects, as all studies found are covering a few symbols only:

Using the ISO/ANSI Open-ended Comprehension Test, Zender & Cassedy (2014) examined the SEGD/HJ pictogram variants marked A) and B) above, to find out if these variants are understood just as well in a different culture, and if not, why this is the case. Results for the pictogram marked A), indicating Women’s Health were sufficient in the two U.S. samples with 88 % resp. 82 % of the answers given judged as correct. But in Tanzania this variant failed completely with just 10 % correct. On the other hand, the variant marked B), indicating Labor & Delivery, was understood almost perfectly in the U.S. with 97 % correct, and also performed sufficiently in Tanzania with 70 % of the answers judged as correct. The authors concluded 'that the learned sign for woman was the cause of the miscommunication'.

A research project comparing comprehensibility of healthcare symbols between the United States, South Korea, and Turkey also included a pictogram very similar to the SEGD / Hablamos Juntos Design marked B), but named OB Clinic (Lee et al., 2014). In this study 82 % of the answers of the U.S. American respondents were classified as correct, indicating a somewhat lower comprehensibility than data from Zender & Cassedy. 87 % correct in the South Korean sample and 85 % in Turkish sample confirm the positive results reported above. Matching Test results from the same study signal far more correct assignments of this symbol to the intended department in each country: 93 % of the participants in the U.S. and 98 % in Turkey as well as in South Korea responded correctly.

Deng et al. (2025) studied the comprehensibility of pictograms from the Chinese standard GB/T 10001.6-2006 Public Information Graphical Symbols for Use on Signs, Part 6: Symbols for Medical Treatment and Health Care to identify effects of age and cognitive features. A pictogram almost identical to the SEGD/HJ variant marked A) and the two pictograms marked C) to D) above also were among the pictograms examined. While the variant intended to signify Obstetrics, marked as C) and displaying a standing pregnant human figure in side view, performed best in the Comprehension Test conducted, with a correct rate of 91 % among the younger respondents compared to 70 % for the senior respondents. The variant representing Gynecology Department, marked as A), reached 67 % (young) and 48 % (old), and for the pictogram for B-Ultrasound Room of Gynecology, marked as D), a correct rate of 71 % (young) and 62 % (old) was calculated. It has to be questioned whether a differentiation between all medical specializations regarding the field of gynecology will be understood well enough by people requiring hospital services, as some of these will be easily confused. Results also indicate that the biology symbol for female is not well understood in all regions.

It also should be noted that in a wayfinding study of Miller & Lewis (1998), as cited in NHS (2005), just 26 % of 100 potential hospital patients correctly understood the term Obstetrics.

Recommendations

Due to the fact that the collection available and also data from research seem to be insufficient, we recommend improving designs, followed by testing using the Comprehensibility Estimation procedure for eliminating poor variants and identifying the best of the set available, followed by a Comprehension Test. These studies should deliver useful data for recommending the best pictogram. Detailed information about the most frequent responses given in each of the response categories of the Comprehension Test should be provided to correctly judge comprehensibility and improve designs. Also information concerning knowledge about this medical specialization should be collected at the end of the test, as studies suggest that many terms used for healthcare facilities are often not understood well by people visiting hospitals or related institutions.

Note: The registered public information symbol Reference No PI AC 014: Priority access for expecting mothers from ISO 7001 illustrates that renderings of a standing pregnant female figure in side view have a differing meaning depending on the context, in which such an image is used. Therefore it is important to offer some context information regarding its field of application, e.g. 'In a hospital', when examining variants for Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Tests of pictograms of referent Gynecology

Deng, L., Wang, W. & Li, P. (2025): Effects of age and cognitive features on comprehension of healthcare symbols in hospitals in Guangzhou. Sci Rep 15, 36355. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-20128-0.

Lee, S., Dazkir, S. S., Paik, H. S., & Coskun, A. (2014). Comprehensibility of universal healthcare symbols for wayfinding in healthcare facilities. Applied Ergonomics, 45(4), 878-885. doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2013.11.003

Zender, M., & Cassedy, A.E. (2014): (Mis)understanding: Icon Comprehension in Different Cultural Contexts. Visible Language, 48, 69.