State of dress during auscultation

I've often wondered when you visit your G/P or regular doctor are you auscultated topless, do you lift your top up exposing your chest or back or does the doctor just feed the stethoscope underneath your clothing avoiding any exposure of your upper body? I think in the UK, it seems men are more likely to be auscultated bare chested for a routine health exam (cough, cold etc) and women tend to be examined under clothing. Is that right or am I imagining it?

It varies for me if I visit the Gp . Sometimes I've lifted my top up , other times I've removed my top but left my bra on . The last time I went to my Gp a few months ago it was a new younger Dr . He asked me to remove my top , so I did . He auscultated both back and front and then asked if I would remove my bra . He did offer to get a chaperone. Then he auscultated again all over the front once I had .

At my hospital appointments with the Respiratory consultant he only ever auscultates me completely bare at the top. He always has a nurse present in his room .

During my sooo many visits to my pulmonologist , he always ausculates bare.

Wheres to physician he asks to lift the tshirt a little

And my current hospital staying , upper hospital clothes( its a loose shirt) gets unbottoned (first three), when doctor comes with 6 medical students. First the doctor auscultate and then atleast two of the med students again auscultate to help them learn. Students always unbotten one or two more buttons .

~cookie

It depends. I've been listened to shirtless, over my shirt, or have my shirt lifted up.

Shirtless is best, it reminds me of when the doctor would listen to my Heart when I was a kid.......felt exposed and helpless while some stranger got to listen to my Pump working away! The cold Stethoscope against my warm skin and beneath it my Heart muscle asking the doctor " How do I sound? Am I healthy? Am I strong?" My Heart is pounding just remembering it....it was surely one of the loudest most pounding Hearts the doctor got to examine all day!

My doc will just ask me to unbutton my shirt or lift my t shirt up. She has never asked me to remove it. I guess that GPs are careful to respect their patients' modesty nowadays.

I've always been asked to take off my shirt or t-shirt altogether and put it on the chair

I work in ITU ( US equivalent is ICU) we auscultate all our patients topless regardless of their sex. I was taught to auscultate on bare skin and have continued this practice, regardless if the patient is sedated or awake, male or female.

Auscultating via clothing does muffle and add additional breath sounds cause by the movement of the diaphragm on the material, which can mast other more quieter breath sounds which in my clinical environment may indicate onset of more serious conditions or may need further investigations.

You have to remember the majority of work in ITU is proactive ( preventative) rather than reactive. If you can prevent a crisis your patient has a greater chance of surviving. Being able to detect subtle changes in breath, lung, cardiac, abdominal or vascular sounds can be very important if not life saving.

In the past for a routine visit I'd just be asked to lift my shirt and they'd auscultate under, but recently when I've gone to the doctor I've been asked to remove my shirt completely.

I pretty much always stay dressed these days.

My shirt is usually off, but sometimes just unbuttoned, like if I'm just there for a cold or something besides a physical.

Just lift my tshirt up or take it off depending on what doctor

90% of all my auscultations by doctors have been over my shirt. Being auscultated on the skin is very rare for me. I can only recall maybe 3 times in my entire life I was auscultated completely bare-chested. I know, kind of disappointing...

My GP usually lifts my shirt at the back and feeds this scope down my shirt in the front.

To examine the heart and lungs without undressing the patient is crazy. I have done s quick exam down the shirt only to see if there are any breath sounds at all. Listening with clothes on is like enjoying a view with the curtains pulled. Generally I have the patient wear s gown open in the back. I listen to the back( the lungs ) first and then raise the gown in front to examine the heart.

Most of the time I am shirtless during auscultation. During my yearly physical it is a given. If I am there due to bronchitis (I get it every few years) my doctor has me remove my shirt and undershirt and I usually have a chest x ray. Not too long ago I was there for cerumen build up in my ear and she listened to my heart and lungs with my shirt on.

In all but one instance I have always been shirtless. In the one exam where I was not shirtless, the doctor did it while I was wearing a tee shirt.

Sadly, like some of the others have stated, I stay mostly dressed during any examination.

Always a naked top half. Doesn't cause me any concern....

I've always been shirtless

I always undress my shirt when getting a stethoscope exam. It´s commom for me to undress down to only my boxershort for general med exams.

Shirt removed in a real examination but for a play exam it would be just in underpants.

The last time I was stethed the doctor got me to lift up my shirt and she listened underneath it.

My family doctor always steth me bare chested...she is a lady doctor...when i was a small boy she used to steth while i was only in my tighty whiteys...

If I'm just at the docs due to feeling ill as result of a chest infection /cough etc usually I'm just asked to take my shirt off / strip to my waist. Fortunately I've never had a doc try to listen with my shirt still on. If it is part of a full physical then I'm usually stripped to my underpants by the time he wants to take a listen to my chest. That is the way I prefer to be stethed.

Shirt off

They never take off my shirt

I'll repeat my previous post. Listening to the heart or lungs with a shirt on is like trying to enjoy a view out the window with the curtains drawn. It just doesn't work. Take off the bra and clothes if you want to know what's going on.

At my physical yesterday, the doctor lower my gown into my lap and ausculated my back and chest on bare skin. I wouldn't have expected any other way.

I've never had the stethoscope placed anywhere but against bare skin. That does not mean that my shirt has always had to come off. Often the stethoscope has been put through a gap made by undoing a couple of buttons or under the shirt at the back.

Interesting to note that most of the replies in this discussion have been from males.