Old versus new school preference

Do you guy prefer an old school doctor or a younger doctor? I found that older doctor gives a much more detailed exam than 'this generation'. Some of these younger doctors even seem embarrass to touch your penis. Is it just me? What are your thoughts?

I think that postings may have to indicate age to help. I grew up in NYC/suburbs area in the 1960's. For me, 'old school' was all female nurses who were tour guides, weren't allowed to do anything, such as blood pressure, and not from a lack of qualifications. So everything was done by male doctors, and there were no female doctors. The male doctors had been trained or served in the military, their opinion was absolute, and their exams, in my experience, were head-to-toe, and thorough. I can only speak for male patients, but at most you were directed to undress to underwear, at some underwear came off at the start. So weights were done by the doctor with the patient undressed. If underwear was worn, it always came off for genital checks. If the doctor, not insurance, deemed a prostate or rectal exam necessary, it was done, as I have posted.

In fairness, younger doctors trained through patient centered schools have 'decided' that modesty at all times is needed, that parts can be examined by peaking around, even if it prevents a 'whole' picture of the patient in the format. As we all know, weights are guesses even as diabetes rates soar. It does make absolute sense that nurses, male and female, are respected, and brought in as the professionals that they are.

I can understand the modesty part. I am 27 and couple years ago I went to this dermatologist which was in his late 20s/early 30s. The nurse suggested I have a full skin exam as I never had one before, gave me a gown and had me undressed down to my underwear. The doctor came in, asked me why I am there and I told him I have some dry rough spots on my arms at the time also for a full skin exam. He looked at my arms and said don't use any scented bodywash, checked my face,neck, and chest and that was it. He was in the room for probably 3-4 mins max. My urologist who's in his 60s give a very thorough exam and very professional, he doesnt wear gloves but always wash his hand before and after the exam.

All I want is competency. Age is irrelevant.

Like @Wolf2007 I want competency. If by "old school" you mean a doc who checks everything under the sun no matter how far removed from your complaint, no I don't want that. I don't want either myself or the insurance company to pay for all that wasted time and effort. However, I think a lot of med fetters would love it, at least until time to pay the bill. If by "this generation" you mean someone who has come out of med school in the past 20 years, then they should be more up to date on current practices and technologies. I also like a doc who isn't afraid to recommend a specialist consultation. A family doc or internal med specialist is great, but they can't know everything about everything.

Being a physician myself I maintain that exhaustive physical exams which are not focused on complaints are unnecessary. The yield of pathological findings is very small. Certain things such as breast exams in women should be done. It's just wishful thinking to ask for an overly detailed examination. I don't think age of the doctor has anything to do with it. I'm sure I dash a fair amount of fantasies by saying this.

Like I said, the younger doctors tend to quickly finish the exam. I want competency as well but I don't know about someone who rush their patient. Hows ur bills gonna be any higher by a doctor who spend more time and given a more detailed exam? I think it's the other way around about paying the bills if a doc just send you to all kind of lab work/test that's unnecessary because they relied too much on technology.

Also it could be the way I word it. It's just from my personal experiences for the last 15 years or so since I was a kid. Older doc just tend to be more caring and spend the time with you while the medical students from clinic or docs that only practice for a few years long rush alot. Again it could be just me

To clarify, I was talking about physicals given by an internist. At my medical center, the time allotted is predetermined by the coding, so an office visit by a new patient gets an hour (I'm reading off the sheet provided) while an office visit by an established patient gets 30 minutes. But this is billing. What takes place, what a doctor does for the duration, whether he is there for five minutes because he got backed up, doesn't affect the billable time. A classic recent exam on the Cape consisted of a nurse taking vital signs, which she entered into a laptop, and the doctor showing up to read from the laptop what someone at my age might consider, not that he did anything himself.

I used to state that an 'old school' physical, whether it detected an early stage of something or not, provided an opportunity for the patient to be examined, as one would a car at regular intervals, whether or not that patient, or car, was then found to have a problem.

In my own experience in France, if you want to have a thorough examination, it is better to have an "old school doctor," than a younger doctor .

Some old school doctors were still requiring the full nudity at a physical examination which was a kind of routine check up while never a younger would do

I have noticed that the younger ones perform very seldomly a complete examination if you go to see them without any disease. to declare.

Also the younger doctors do seldomly a complete visual inspection of the body while the old school docs did it, especially for checking the spine. when I was young or at routine physical examinations like at job physicals.

the old school docs always checked the genitals while the younger ones do it only occasionnally or if a disease inthat area is suspected.

Sometimes, it was more embarrassing with an old school doctor like those we had at our annual school examinations or for the draft physical examinations and after induction during military service because they did not care at all about our modesty towards nudity

But on the reverse some younger doctors are so reluctant to ask to a patient to undress, that they perfomed their examination with a patient less undressed as possible

And it is not a question of gender of the doctors : I have met women doctors who were rather middle aged or old women and who were also old school as men, especially at mandatory physical examinations at school or at jobs or even at a medical center, generally not in a private office..

I think that most of the doctors whenever is their gender are acting how they wee told to act during their years of medical studies: in the past most of the teachers doctors learned to them that they might not mind about the shyness of the patient and that a good examination might be a visual one on an undressed body while now it is completely different, they are learned to care a lot about the feelings of their patients

There are no more authoritarian doctors like some could be in the past

As for embarrassment about touching the genitals you've got to be kidding. We've seen it all. Also to repeat, a physical which is exhaustive without a history driven basis is unlikely to yield much in the way of pathology. And I trained as an internist and am boarded in internal medicine as well as emergency medicine.

@ShadowzSoulz First of all, we should welcome you as a new member today. Zity is a fine place.

Secondly, the first sentence in you profile says a lot about your point of view

"I love medical exam ever since I was a kid."

All I want is competency. Age is irrelevant.

While competency is the most important thing, if you are talking about methodology and attitude, I prefer "Old School."

"New School" doctors rely too much on lab work to make a diagnosis, and tend to rush the physical exam.They try to act like your friend (As opposed to being just "friendly&quot 😉 Some I've seen even seem almost embarrassed and apologetic when they have you take down your underwear to do a genital exam and/or DRE.

"Old School Docs (and that includes the way I was taught in Corps School.) take charge of the situation. you are in THEIR office. They don't ask, they tell. They do a complete exam, then do lab work to CONFIRM, not make, a diagnosis.

It is not a matter of age, but training.

I know this is a generalization, and that it may not hold true for all doctors everywhere, but that's my personal observation.

~ 1Doc1

I think I was part of a transitional phase of patient care. It was the late 1970's and new doctors were being taught to see the patient as a far more complex human being and less like a pork chop on a meat rack. Even at the age of fourteen my new doctor wanted me to be part of the decision making process where my previous doctor was old school who executed strong arm mafioso style tactics. The new doctor was far more respectful towards me and as such trust was easy. I wanted to stop taking Ritalin (I was misdiagnosed as ADHD.) I did not want a shot to keep my vaccinations current. ( I manned up because it was the right thing to do.) I did not want my blood drawn. I didn't want my female doctor groping my testicles. (or so I thought.) I may not have always gotten my way regarding my health care but at least I had a vote.

"1Doc1"

I think like you about the "new school" doctors and "the old "ones, even if it is a too quicker generalisation

Like you said, the new old doctors rely too much on lab results to make a diagnosis and tend to rush or sometimes even skip the physical exam by a visual inspection or by palpating or touching

When iIgo to se a doctor, I don't want to see a friend and I am not expected that he asks my agreement to take down my underwear to do a genital exam or a DRE or any exam which requires nudity, he must not be embarrassed to ask me to undress, otherwise I am still more uncomfortable!

And like you said "old school doctors" don't act like that, they do what they have to do without asking an agreement and give more attention to the visual physical examination

Some, the best ones, can be both friendly and very thorough and acting with a bit authority since you are in their office.

but you are right : it is more a question of training than a question of age but the training of the younger doctors is very different of that of the old ones

I think the terms "old an new" should not refer to gender. I am in agreement with most comments here; the "old school" type was jut that. Doctors were mot as subjected to the "coding and insurance requirements" as is done today. I think some things are lacking with the "new doctor" regarding physicals. I am nearly 50 and for the past several years, annual physicals have not been very comprehensive. Maybe it is just me, but the only time I am asked to take off everything except my underwear has been at the dermatologist who I have been seeing for several years. I get a full body exam twice a year for a mole check. This doctor is about 45 yrs old.

As for my GP, he is around the same age,and has never seen me partially or completely nude.

Awesome, I'm the first woman to respond to this thread. I'm a bit surprised. Well at any rate, these are my thoughts.

@Turkent, you bring up a good point and one that isn't quite understood always. You are exactly correct that back in the 1970's at least here in America, there was a huge change in how doctors started treating patients, old and young. Previous to this time, children were not given choices, or even spoke to that much when it came to medical things. The doctors and medical staff talked around the kids and directly to the parents. Often times things were said along the lines of, "we just won't tell him he's getting a shot, we will just surprise him", and other things like that. Children were never asked their opinions or what they thought and were absolutely never given a voice in their own medical care.

Someone earlier said something along the lines of "Doctors don't make you take your clothes off anymore", and "they almost seem embarrassed if they have to ask you to". First of all, if the doctor is embarrassed at seeing a naked body then that is their problem, not yours so don't worry about it. However, I can tell you honestly that they probably are not embarrassed as much as they are probably cringing at the thought of a patient having to show some skin.

I can only speak for my country as it might be different for yours. Depending on where you live in the US greatly depends on how your doctor practices medicine somewhat. Most know that I am dating a doctor who lives in New York, I live in Ohio and the way he practices if vastly different than how the doctors here in my state practice. In Ohio we are often times just good old country folks, laid back, farmers and what not. Things around here don't change as quickly as they do in other parts of my country. Up until recently, and by recently I mean the last few years or so, if we were not asked to remove some of our clothing then we too, or some rather felt cheated. Also, people in my state are not anywhere even close to being uptight about our doctors seeing skin as they are in New York.

Doctors in New York for example almost can't even fathom having patients willing to expose themselves enough to be examined. They are uptight as hell and I'm surprised Doc doesn't pull diamonds out of his patients asses they are so tight. The reason I made the statement earlier about doctors cringing if they have to ask you to show skin is because they are afraid of being sued. America is sue happy and obsessed with "money for nothing and their chicks for free", lol.

The most common thing I hear from this site are comments that many in this thread have already voiced, "Doctors don't give complete physicals anymore". Also things like, "I am not getting the care I am paying for", or other such things along those lines. Well I hate to be a kill joy here, but the truth is.......

Medical advancement and break through's happen all the time. We have come a very long way since 5 years ago, 10 and absolutely 50 years ago. Let me give you an example. Seven years ago I had my first kidney surgery. The two stones in the lower kidney were able to be taken out from blasting them with the laser then both going up and pulling some out and then flushing the rest out. I also had 2 stones in the upper kidney that at the time could not be taken out the same way because they didn't have the equipment to do so. They would have had to slice open my back, then my kidney and what not. I would have had to have tubes coming out of my back from both my kidneys to drain urine into a bag I would have to wear. I was told that the recovery for this would be a good year or so. Well this year I had both of those stones removed from my kidney, which hadn't moved no less the same way I did 7 years ago. Recovery time for that, a week, maybe two at the most. That is just one tiny example.

With this being said, as medicine advances, the less invasive medical professionals have to be or more importantly need to be. The fact is that 90 percent of your diagnosis comes from patient history, 90 percent mind you. That means talking to you, that means you being honest with us, and rule number one in medicine is, patients always lie.

So that leaves us with 10 percent left. So in that ten percent will be hands on, labs, tests, etc. Doctors are trained these days to practice focused exams for political reasons beyond their control. That means that if you walk into the office with complaints of lower abdominal pain the doctor is going to look in your chart and start eliminating possible diagnosis', i.e., do they still have an appendix, could they be pregnant, do they have PCOS or whatever would apply to that situation. Once the choices are eliminated they go from there.

I understand that many here think of this as a bad thing, but in reality, it's a great thing. Medical advancements mean better medications for things once thought were not possible to cure, like Polio for example. It means that almost all "exploratory" surgeries have been eradicated. Labs, ultrasound machines, MRI's, CT scans and other such things pin point the problem almost immediately with less pain, less evasiveness, less recovery time, lower infection rates and the list goes on and on.

I have also said here a thousand times in the past, if you walk into a doctors office on your own two feet, you are talking, and you are coming in for a med refill or something basically other than cardiac issues, or something of the like, then what is the point of taking your vital signs? You walked in, you are talking so obviously you have a pulse, a blood pressure, and are breathing. And a good medical professional should be able to take one look at you and tell if you have a fever high enough to treat, so no need to take your temp either, especially if you are in for something like a med refill.

Please try to remember, the top 4 medical schools in the world are right here in the United States, and most of the top facilities, as well as the most skilled doctors. So relax and let us do our jobs, we know what we are doing, trust me.

Mashie

I moved when I was a teen. Before I moved it was a normal middle aged guy pediatrician in an office building. Then I moved and it was an old lady pediatrician in her own private home, with part of it converted into an waiting room and an exam room. There were couple of differences.

New pediatrician never gave me a gown, and I was told to strip down to the birthday suit from the beginning. The old one gave me a gown and my underwear never came off. Underpants were slightly pulled down during the hernia exam.

The new one always examined my genitals, regardless of visit. I had a skin condition one time from wrestling, and she had me strip down also. Old one did not. New one also examined my foreskin every time, the other did not. New one asked me about erections and development, new one never did. New doctor used an orchidometer to check my testicles on the first visit. (I didn't know it at the time). Other did not.

New one did give me a rectal exam before I went off to college, old one never did.

I think she was very old school, as she believed that kids should be reading books and playing sports, not sitting and watching TV, so I remember the waiting room had bunch of books tailored to different ages. The old waiting room had a TV and bunch of toys.

I moved when I was a teen. Before I moved it was a normal middle aged guy pediatrician in an office building. Then I moved and it was an old lady pediatrician in her own private home, with part of it converted into an waiting room and an exam room. There were couple of differences.

Sounds like the new doctor was a medfetter's dream ... 😃

I would prefer detailed exams from a young doctor but if he is going to do just a quick check with the gown always covering me, I would rather the old doctor with an exam as much detailed as he wants, plus being naked (or better, with the gown lifted all the way up)

My experience is that today's doctors don't do complete physical exams. I have seen two or three docs, specifically asked for a complete physical, and all they did is talk!

So give me an old school GP any day.

As a medical layman, I might be way off base, but I've always thought of the blood work as by far the most important part of a physical exam.

My current doctor is very thorough in incorporating the results of my last blood test into the history and interviewing portion of the exam which constitutes at least 2/3 of the time spent with the doctor. I greatly appreciate this time since I feel the most important, and most invisible, aspects of my health are getting reviewed in good detail.

The actual hands on portions of my exams, while fully head to toe, are definitely done quicker than the interviewing portions. And when considering my general excellent health, I'm not at all concerned about the low ratio of physical exam to interview.

As a medical layman, I might be way off base, but I've always thought of the blood work as by far the most important part of a physical exam.

Technically speaking, blood work is lab tests, not part of the physical exam, but that doesn't make it any less important.

I have posted somewhere my surprise that my new doctor, Canadian by birth, who came to medicine after forestry, but is in his early 30's at best or late 20's, and in a family medicine practice gives an absolutely complete, 'old school' type physical exam. Male patients, the only sex about which I can speak, are told to take everything off and put exam shorts, boxer like, on. He has no problem with my being in my briefs instead, the shorts being too large. He even commented that he is going to see everything anyway.

He starts with the scalp, and moves through your standard exam while taking time to cover every inch of skin. Hernia check. Prostate check. He relaxes, too, once he realizes that my exams are straight forward and he won't be delayed by issues.

Old school doctor is much better and always give a more thorough exam and usually has more authority based attitude.

I prefer a younger female doctor like the one I have now. Not only is she more thorough than the older ones I've had in the past, but she's much better looking!

My doctor growing up was ancient. Always undid my pants himself for hernia check. Now i have a doc in his 40s and the last two visits have amounted to nothing more than my shirt and shoes off. He asks a hundred questions...do you have this, do you have that...? Uh, I don't know, that's why I'm here...for you to find out and tell me.

I prefer 40s-late 50s with some experience under their belt but not too old or too young. And female is a must (better bedside manner in my opinion)

I don't have enough experience with younger docs to say. My docs have almost always been older. In their 50s or 60s. I had one physical from a young PA who was almost as thorough as my older docs had been. He was maybe in his 30s. Had me strip to my underpants only, no gown. Did a rectal exam. So no difference that time in the level of modesty. Even older docs are not all the same. I have been in exam gowns only with older docs and in my underwear only with other older docs. Once I was 40, I got a rectal exam every time and even got them in my 20s and 30s although not every time.

But as the older docs retire, I will have younger docs and will be able to see if the practices change much. I don't know about geographical differences as it has been years since I have lived elsewhere. When I was a kid, all the docs seemed the same to me and the routine was the same. I've have been curious about the practice differences between male and female docs but have not had a female primary care doc so no experience there at all. There have been male posters on this board who have claimed that some of their female docs don't provide gowns and do physicals like a male doc would.

I have had older, younger, women and men physicians. My only criteria for continuing remains their medical competence. Unless I surface a question about a penis problem, I do not expect them to handle my penis. Times and medicine are changing, particularly with the advent of the EMR or electronic medical record. I appreciate the physician who can still talk to me, make eye contact and enter data in the EMR. I like the patient portals and regularly communicate with my physicians by means of it, frequently obtaining answers to my questions within 24 hours.