Do you prefer older and experienced or younger and up to date?

Who gives a better exam? An older doc that has the decades of experience or the younger doc who is up to date on the latest protocols? A caveat could be who gives the more thorough exam?

I prefer a younger up to date female doctor to provide my care to me

I used to think an older doctor was more thorough, since that just happened to be my personal experience with doctors. But my current doctor is fairly young (probably in her late 30's) and she is thorough. At the end of the day, it really depends on the individual doctor, and in some respects, the office policies where they're practicing. If the office schedules too many patients, or doesn't allocate enough time for each one, the doctor might feel rushed and skip a few things. As always YMMV.

Now, if I had a serious illness or disease that needed expert treatment, I'd want both. I'd want a doctor (young or old) that kept up-to-date on the latest advances in the treatment of my particular problem. Yet I'd also want someone that had a lot of experience in that area as well. So an older, more experienced doctor that keeps up-to-date with the latest treatments is the best of all worlds.

Because of my many ailments, I've seen doctors of all ages, both male/female... My preference is for one who is knowledgeable, who does not go overboard with tests just to cover themselves, willing to discuss and explain their findings; appreciating the fact that as an engineer (retired) I still have a brain and can research and understand things.

I used to think an older doctor was more thorough, since that just happened to be my personal experience with doctors. But my current doctor is fairly young (probably in her late 30's) and she is thorough. At the end of the day, it really depends on the individual doctor, and in some respects, the office policies where they're practicing. If the office schedules too many patients, or doesn't allocate enough time for each one, the doctor might feel rushed and skip a few things. As always YMMV.

Agreed definitely varies person to person, maybe the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle

I definitely prefer the experience of an older doc. My current doctor is about my age and is not as thorough as I’d like him to be. My play doc, however, is a much older retired EMT and he gives me a VERY thorough examination, so he really makes up for it.

I agree that it depends on the doctor and the kind of practice. In the US today as medical practices get consolidated and more corporate doctors have less time to spend with patients and a lot more focus seems to be on entering data into their computer and simply doing bloodwork.

Doctors in smaller practices, direct primary care practices and concierge practices seem to spend more time with their patients and tend to do more thorough exams, or at least carry out more aspects of what some have come expect a thorough physical exam to be.

I guess I will find out with my new doc in a week. She is fairly young and it will be my first time seeing her. I have to say I am eager.

I’m not sure the level of thoroughness depends that much on age. My current internist is roughly the same age as my primary care physician. The physicals that I receive from my internist are far more thorough.

Crap!!! At my age ALL Doctors seem young!!

Teaching Hospitals (e.g. Univ Co Medical, UTSW, OHSU) are state of the art and incorporate cutting edge technology. They provide a cross-section of young Doctors as well as older more experienced ones. For anything serious (brain, heart, lungs, cancer....etc) I would seek out a well reviewed Teaching Hospital - and don't really care if I get a young male/female or an older doc - they will be qualified!