Length of Heart Exam

Play Docs: When examining a patient, how long do you let the heart exam go on for? Personally, I find this to be the most "intimate" portion of the exam without being overtly sexual... so I like to steth my patients for at least 2-3 minutes solely on the heart. Is this something you do as well, or do you examine more quickly.

Play Patients: What goes through your mind in the silent time while your doc is intently listening to your heart? Do you enjoy a long heart exam?

I can only share limited experience, since I haven‘t had a „proper“ play-exam yet.

As a doctor, I like to take my time with thoroughly auscultating my patient as this is my major thing. The auscultation of heart, lungs and abdomen lasts somewhere between 5-30 minutes, depending on the setting and mood. I also like to auscultate in different positions, like standing, sitting or lying.

Auscultation is something very sexual and intimate for me. I enjoy being a patient as well. Watching my doctor move the stethoscope carefully around my chest turns me on. I tend to relax and enjoy, hoping it might never end. A wonderful little thing, truly.

Unfortunately, I just had one play-session and this was intended for heart auscultation exclusively. We both took enough time to listen to our hearts carefully and extensively. As he was auscultating me he asked for listening to my lungs and belly as well and I enjoyed it a lot to have/feel his steth especially around my heart and on my belly. So, in this case, I'd like to totally agree with @snakezb. A feeling I'd wish it'll never end. He was auscultating me for at least half an hour.

When I was auscultating him, I focused on his heart mainly and I hardly couldn't stop listening because his heart was nicely excited and was pounding hard and fast. So I think I was also listening to his heart for 30 min. and we both enjoyed it a lot. I also listened to his belly and his lungs but that wasn't that satisfying for me, but for him.

Over all, I also share the view that auscultation in general is a very intimate and sexual thing, to me!

I like to take my time when listening when I'm in the doctor role, taking 20-30 minutes to auscultate. I'll give my partner a thorough going over, listening to her heart, lungs and belly. I'll ask her to breath normally while I listen to her heart, going over her chest, back sides and neck, as well as listening to the peripheral pulses above her belly button, the femoral pulse and behind her knees. I'll get her to take deep breaths in and out all over her chest, and back while listening to her lungs, as well as going over again asking her to say 99. For her belly, I'll listen directly over her belly button as well as going round all four quadrants, describing the gurgling sounds to her.

When I'm the patient it's the reverse and all the same things happen to me. I love the sensual feeling of a cold stethoscope moving slowly over my chest and tummy, and being asked how to breathe, and what to do.

In both roles it's a really sexual and sensual experience for both of us.

Every woman I have stethed in play exams (about a dozen ranging in age from 19 to 54 and breast size from 32A to 40DD) said I took more time listening to her heart and auscultated all around her pump more thoroughly than any doctor ever did. One said that I was the first one to steth her bare chested since she was a child before her breasts started to develop, and two told me that they couldn't remember ever being stethed bare chested. Three of my patients had never heard their own hearts until I offered them the earpieces of my cardiology steth

As a doc, yes I do spend a lot of time listening to the heart, lungs and organs. It takes up a good chunk of time.

As a patient I also enjoy a long steth listen from the doc. My mind fist wonders about what's coming in the exam and what the doctor will do to me and how it will feel. Then I relax and just enjoy the sensations of the scope on me. Before I know it the doctor has moved on to palpation.

I usually take a few good m8nutes to listen to the heart in different spots and lungs to make sure they are clear.

This is a very leisurely process, the patient should be relaxed, so you need to do everything slowly, constantly maintaining verbal contact. Less than half an hour is not very good, but about an hour is best.