What type of doctor/office/healthcare system does the most in depth physical exams?

Hi guys.

I have gotten physicals exams recently, but they weren’t really all that advanced. I just got an employment physical… they did nothing. It seems recently, there has been less and less. Anyway, I voted to a new state so I need to change my doctor.

What type of doctors (MD, Family Physicians, General Doctors, etc) typically do the most thorough exams? Do certain ones typically do more in depth exams?

Do doctors in a hospital setting or individual practice do better physical exams?

Are gowns still popular in doctors offices?

Employment physicals are a list of medical conditions the customer (an employer) wants the doctor to check potential employees for. Due to privacy issues, a doctor should not offer any information outside that list to the employer.

Anyone wanting a physical should communicate with the doctor and tell them what is desired, what the doctor recommends, etc. In short, have a conversation with the doctor so you are comfortable with the number and scope of tests to be performed and what the doctor/practice will do with that information.

Internal medicine doctors do the most thorough exams. I’ve found that hospital based practices are better. And yes gowns are still popular.

As a retired internist I agree we are trained to perform the most thorough physical on adults. Gowns certainly remain important because supporting modesty is a professional imperative. As to office versus hospital based, I'd have to say it really depends on the doctor.

My current internist provides the most comprehensive annual physical I can recall. A gown is offered but I decline. I’m in underwear for most of the time until the final part when it comes off for a skin check. Then he exits, I get dressed, and we talk in his office.

Internist who are more old school give the most thorough physicals.

I believe that Internal Medicine does more for the adult than the General Practitioner. This is my opinion. I have been going to Internal Med doctors since I was 20 something. Normally, most check-ups are simple: weight, height, BP, blood sample and urine sample. This normally is done by the nurse. The nurse then advises to undress to your underwear and if you want to have a gown I can get one. I decline the gown and just sit in my underwear on the exam table.

I did have a past doctor who's nurse just advised to have a seat in the chair and wait for the Doctor. Doctor came into the room and looked over my chart(pre-internet era) and just said:

Robert, just strip to your shorts and hop on the table.

I see a general practitioner who shares a practice with another doc and nurse practitioner. I have only seen him and the exams are thorough. I do not get a gown but strip to my briefs but at some point the briefs are removed for my genital and DRE. I always leave my exam feeling greasy and have no issue with developing an erection as I leave the office.

Haven't seen an Internist but in my experience, it's actually the Nurse Practitioners that give more thorough physicals compared to Family Doctors. NP's are more flexible and I feel like they have more time to spare whereas MD's are always slammed and don't really bother all that much with physicals these days.

From what it seems based on members’ posts here, pediatric officers in the U.S. in the 80s and 90s were the most in depth physical exams between doctors not trusting patients and especially kids and teens and doctors not wanting liability for inadvertently missing something, there seems to have been more manhandling of patients there than anywhere else I’d wager

My last thorough physical exam, meaning that I was undressed to briefs, and it was literally head (looking at my scalp with my head lowered, to toe, was by a Canadian trained family doctor. A complete surprise, since doctors in New England had gotten less, and less thorough, appointments taking minutes. Which is the other surprise: a full hour was noted on the medical center appointment. He only did a few physical exams a day. There were exam shorts provided, by in XL. Since I wear S, I opted for my briefs, and no shorts. I have to assume that it was the medical school training which made the difference because he was starting his practice in the US.

In my experience the endocrinologist do the most thorough physicals at least when it comes to genital exam for male patients. In my experience, both endocrinologist that I saw examined my private areas, supine seated, and standing, requiring me to be exposed for the longest amount of time and compared with other providers exams

Personally I find my doctors NP or PA do the most thorough physical exams as a general observation especially if on the younger side since they don’t want to miss anything.

I’m surprised i’m not seeing more peoples answering Dermatologist. He’s the only doctor that i’ve ever saw that check every inch of my bodv..

I think pre employment exams can go one way or another, I’ve had one where the doctor listens to your heart and that’s it, to undressed in a gown.

It's a toss up for who does the more thorough physical exam - my GP or urologist.

Seriously, the best, most thorough exams I have experienced are at the Vets. Our cats and bunny have their pick-and-poke exam, a dental check, lab sample tests and temperature taken; lab tests are in, shots given, and the file filled out, all in one visit in around half an hour each. We have four cats. One bunny. They go in at the same time.

Doctors for humans are, for the most part, afraid to do anything in case they are sued and stick to the minimum. Hospital Doctors, I find, are overpaid and not that good. Here, anyway, one good Doctor has a swarm of interns doing their work in a crappy way. The last place you want to be is in a hospital.

I have to assume most gynos give the most thorough exams from a nudity perspective, no? Particularly if there’s a rectal.

The urologist I have been seeing is the most thorough.