Medical Nostalgia - What were exams like in the 1980s and 90s?
Hey everyone. I know its a popular subject to discuss our exam experiences reminiscing on nostalgia from the “good days” but I wanted to get some more extensive details, because this has been on my mind lately. Since we’re all in agreement that now days physical exams have grown extremely lacking, becoming less thorough, rarely having to undress, and doctors seemingly more rushed and stressed than ever, they are sparse in giving their patient satisfactory attention. I’ve said before that it has become more about patient comfort than patient necessity, and treated as a time inconvenience rather than an essential routine part of a healthy lifestyle.
Recently I came across a local family medicine practice on google, and the photos of the office and exam room looked right out of the early 1990s! And many of the reviews mentioned that the primary doctor has been at the practice for 30 years and was very “experienced” and “thorough”. Needless to say I am interested in scheduling an appointment there just to see for myself. As part of the somewhat-forgotten generation midway between the Millennials and Gen Z in our mid-twenties, I did not live through the 80s and or experience much from the 90s (but god I wish, those decades seemed amazing), so I am curious to hear from both men and women who were young adults (18-30 range) during the 1980s-90s what going to the doctor was like for physical exams, gynecology exams, hospitalization etc.
Did you have to undress for the exam?
Were you given a gown or did you receive the exam in your underwear or nude?
If gown, was it a cloth gown or paper gown?
Were doctor’s offices more modest with their patients back then or do you think they have become more so now given our modern social sensitivities?
Did you (or the general majority of people) wear white underwear - briefs, bra and panties?
Did you have to remove them during the exam?
Were you barefoot for your exams or did you wear socks? Were you wearing white socks?
What clothes, particularly from the style of those decades, did you wear to the doctors office before your exam?
How were you weighed, in the hallway or in the exam room? Were you weighed in your underwear or fully clothed?
Was your temperature taken rectally as an adult?
How would the doctor or nurse instruct you to undress? What did they say? Would the nurse give you instructions ahead of time or wait until the doctor arrived? Did they step out of the exam room while you changed or did they remain?
What was a visit to the ER or Hospital for a routine surgery like in the 80s and 90s compared to now?
Did more doctors do examinations with gloves on or bare hands?
Were the majority of doctors you saw male or female?
Were the majority of gynecologists back then male or female? Were you comfortable seeing them anyways?
Did you receive shots in the butt?
How thorough were genital exams back then?
Did doctors traditionally do a rectal exam before middle age?
What are some films or tv shows from the 80s and 90s that have good medical scenes in them, that may have attracted your interest?
If you had enlisted in the army during the 80s, what was getting the MEP like?
How thorough was it compared to what they do now?
I am just old enough in my twenties to have experienced some fading parts of the more “traditional” medical practice when growing up seeing my pediatrician and while I have been going to college and doing athletics, right as this modern shift to this new trend of modesty and comfort culture that has taken hold in the medical world. Perhaps it’s a byproduct result of new medical science and the pandemic that forged this new paradigm of less thorough exams, due to the fractionalization of medicine where everything is now a specialization and so the practice of general healthcare physicals is slowly eroding away. I think it’s quite sad honestly, even though I can appreciate the advancements made in modern medicine. We’ll probably reach Star Trek levels soon enough where an AI can just scan you and immediately summarize your health status and recommend treatment, no longer needing physicians LOL! But even if the “good ol days” are passed in real medicine, play exams don’t have to change! I love the idea of an old-fashioned styled play exam and always interested in getting one in the spirit of late 20th century nostalgia!
Curious to read your responses!