PESSARIES Advanced:
Advanced Pessary Fitting 
Course Content
In the PESSARIES Intro course we focused on pelvic organ prolapse conservative management, safety, speculum examinations, pessary management, and fitting and managing ring, cube, and Gellhorn pessaries.
 
In the PESSARIES Advanced course we are stepping things up to focus will be on learning how to fit and manage a wide range of other pessary types available on the market in New Zealand and Australia.
 
We will do a brief review of POP pathophysiology, looking at the bio-mechanical aspects of prolapses and how it affects our pessary selection and fitting success. 
 
A quick review of vaginal exams, objective measures of POP, palpation of levator ani avulsions, and brief coverage of speculum examination basics will be done to ensure everyone is working at the same high level.
 
NOTE - If you do not currently assess the vaginal muscosa using speculums as part of your pessary management, I would recommend you complete our Speculum Workshop prior to this Pessaries Advanced Course to ensure you are up to speed fully with speculum exams. If you have completed our Pessaries - Intro course, you will already have all the information about speculum examinations you need, you don't need to do the workshop.
 
Each different pessary type will be reviewed with the focus on learning why to choose it and how to fit and manage it successfully.
 
This will be a practical, hands on course, involving advanced realistic silicone vaginal models and peer-to-peer learning for those that wish to.
 
We'll also be reviewing difficult case studies involving pessaries and critically evaluating best practice around these case studies. 
Participants:
Females, males, and gender diverse health professionals are invited to take part in this course. To attend this course, you must already be practicing as a pelvic health professional, be experienced in performing internal vaginal examinations, and ideally be fitting ring and cube pessaries already with patients. 'Experienced' means that you regularly perform vaginal examinations in your day-to-day clinical practice and already provide conservative management of pelvic organ prolapse, including pessaries ideally.
  

You must be a registered health professional in good standing in your home country. Registration must be with the appropriate health professional board such as Physiotherapy Board of NZ, AHPRA boards in Australia, Osteopathic Council of NZ, The Nursing Council of NZ, Medical Council of NZ, etc.

This course includes approximately 4 hours of practical sessions. We have advanced realistic silicone vaginal models (called 'Lily', named after the Mt Cook native wildflower) available to practice levator ani avulsion assessments, speculum examinations, POP-Q measures, and fitting all types of pessaries.

We also have multiple fitting kits available for those who wish to use peer-to-peer learning for their practical sessions. If you wish to do peer-to-peer learning, it involves internal examinations with participants practicing on each other during the practical sessions. By using peer-to-peer learning, participants gain vital learning on how it feels to be a patient, as well as a health professional, ensuring you gain well rounded experiential learning. This course allows people of all genders an opportunity to learn from each other and gain vital, practical clinical skills. Informed consent is discussed in detail on the course, and you will have the ability to consent or not consent to internal examination at the time of the assessments if you choose to take part in peer-to-peer learning.

You can also choose to combine using the silicone model and peer-to-peer learning, its up to you.

NOTE:   While it is ideal that you attend this course after fitting at least ring and cube pessaries with patients, we understand that due to multiple factors sometimes you need to combine all your learning into one weekend. 

This is why we are now allowing course participants of our PESSARIES INTRO course to attend PESSARIES ADVANCED course on the same weekend. We will be trying to schedule the PESSARIES INTRO Course on the Saturday, and the PESSARIES ADVANCED Course on the Sunday, of the same weekend, at most locations. See the PESSARIES INTRO course page for more information on that course.

Format
There is approximately 2 hours of online theory you need to watch before coming to the 1 day In-Person course. This course could be run on the same day directly after the Speculum Workshop, meaning it could be a later mid-morning start for the Pessaries - Advanced Course. This is all depending on where the courses are running. 
Presenters:
Dr Melissa Davidson
Dr Melissa Davidson is the only registered Specialist Physiotherapist in Pelvic Health in New Zealand. Alongside more than three decades of clinical practice, Melissa has extensive post graduate qualifications including a PhD in Bioengineering, research Masters from The University of Melbourne, a Diploma in Advanced Orthopaedic Manipulations from Canada, and Post Graduate Certificates in Physiotherapy in both Pelvic Floor and Acupuncture. She also has a Certificate in Health Science and is a Certified Health Coach. She is registered with the Physiotherapy Board of New Zealand under Specialist Scope of Practice and is a long-term member of Physiotherapy New Zealand. She is the immediate past President of the International Organisation of Physiotherapists in Pelvic and Women's Health. Melissa is the lead author on the 'Pessary Management Recommendations for New Zealand Pelvic Health Physiotherapists', designed in consultation with content experts in physiotherapy, gynaecology, and general practice.
Simon Smith
Simon is the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) and Co-Founder of Dr Melissa Davidson Pelvic Health Training. Simon uses his business and management experience to work behind the scenes dealing with the business systems of physiotherapy practices. He provides one-on-one international business consultancy with private practice owners to improve their businesses processes, cash flow, efficiency, and at the same time reduce the owners' (and employees') stress levels.
What people are saying about the Pessaries Advanced course:
"Fantastic course to practice fitting the wider range of pessaries, beyond rings, cubes and gellhorns. Valuable discussions on clinical reasoning with the case studies. Excellent being able to practice on the new models too!"
 
- Emma, Physiotherapist
It was absolutely fantastic. The course was incredibly informative and significantly enhanced my knowledge of pessary management, especially for those tricky patient cases. I also really valued the opportunity to collaborate and learn alongside other health professionals. As always, Melissa delivers courses that are engaging, practical, and of the highest quality. Highly recommended!"
 
- Rebecca, Physiotherapist
"Highly recommend any clinician working with pessaries attend". 
 
- Emma, Nurse Practitioner
"A fantastic learning environment with a lovely group with varied scopes. Highly recommend!"
 
- Alex, Gynaecologist
"Having attended several of Melissa's courses, I can attest to her maintaining a high standard of presentation, content and her impressive sense of humor to enhance participants engagement and learning"
 
- Helen, Nurse
"Melissa's courses are fabulous - I have worked my way through all of them over a few years & they've given me the tools & knowledge to be able to confidently practice in pelvic health physio, as well as pessary fitting! Thank you for your support & for sharing all your wisdom with us Melissa"
 
- Courtney, Physiotherapist
Additional Information:
Lunch and break food will be provided. If you have specific food requirements or allergies, we recommend you bring your own food with you.
Pre-reading and Tests:
Pre-reading will be provided to complete prior to the course starting. There is also some activities that need to be done over the weeks prior to the course. A pre-course test needs to be completed prior to the course to ensure the pre-reading has been completed.
 

There will be practical assessments during the course testing clinical assessment skills learned on the course to ensure at the end of the course you are competent. These are done in a relaxed, comfortable fashion. 

A post-course test and evaluation will need to be completed immediately after the course. 

Investment:

Full course fees:

New Zealand locations - NZ$745 including GST for the one-day course. 

Australian locations - AUD$795 for the one-day course.

Join the waiting list for 2026
This course will next be running in 2026 with dates in New Zealand and Australia. Register for the waiting list below. 
Click here to register for the waiting list for New Zealand
Click here to register for the waiting list for Australia