Is there a magic word to get a full physical?

I’m in the US and over the last few years, when I schedule a physical the doctor will listen to my heart, my lungs, feel my stomach, my glands and then Draws some blood for labs. I have a history of prostate issues in my family and all she does is getting the PSA with the blood work?

is this standard or is there a magic word when scheduling my physical that will have the scheduling people set it up as a full blown physical?

In a word: no. The way insurance is set up these days, the routine “physical” is extremely limited. If I have a specific concern, I will sometimes request a referral to a specialist who will then do a targeted and thorough exam (e.g. you complained you were having pain you think might be related to your prostate. I live in So Cal and my company sent me to Scripps for their “executive” physical. This is an all day event which costs about $5000 and not covered by insurance. You are gone over from head to toe, including things such as cardiac stress test and a lot of ultrasound investigation. Even so, this still did not include pelvic, rectal, and colon examinations and relies heavily on extensive blood work.

Statistically the PSA test is more reliable than the DRE so they'll usually only do the blood draw

Even so, primary care will probably refer you to a urologist if you have any prostate symptoms

Not sure of your age and it probably does not matter Because most clinics now only do a wellness exam which means most doctors will have you fully clothed and just ask questions. I called my Dr, asked the receptionist if the doctor can do a full body skin exam as part of my physical and She replied yes I then said I dont have issues but will my physical include a prostate exam. She said she would make a note for the Dr. Bottom line I had a “ complete “ physical to include all the above!

Had P cancer and doing regular annual physicals that would never find it but since had trace of blood in urine for last 10 yrs had annual urologist visit who did PSA and then when mine was high did a more specific PSA type test, found cancer, got rad for it and been fine since. Go to a urologist

I'll be starting med school in the Fall. Thus, for the past year, I've been a medical school applicant. Like a large number of med school applicants, I've been shadowing various doctors to see what the profession is like (and, more importantly, medical schools consider it important for applicants).

In shadowing various doctors, I've found that there is a wide range of how thorough physical exams are done. It doesn't seem to vary based on what the patient says. It just seems that some doctors are fairly superficial and do exams through clothes, and others are more thorough and have patients get undressed and don a gown as a matter of course.

In shadowing various doctors, I've found that there is a wide range of how thorough physical exams are done. It doesn't seem to vary based on what the patient says. It just seems that some doctors are fairly superficial and do exams through clothes, and others are more thorough and have patients get undressed and don a gown as a matter of course.

See I'm fine with that, different ways for different people.. but there should be some way to like, identify which doctor is which kind. So people who wanna stay covered can go to their doctors, and people who want to be exposed can see those docs instead.

is this standard or is there a magic word when scheduling my physical that will have the scheduling people set it up as a full blown physical?

You'll get mixed results depending on the practice, the doctor, your insurance, and your age and gender. I don't think there's a magic word to use when scheduling, although I usually use the terms “complete physical exam”, or even better, “comprehensive physical exam” to describe what I want. When I'm scheduling an appointment, I also ask how much time is being allocated for my appointment. If they say it's 15 minutes, then they didn't get the message and you should tell them that you expected a longer appointment for a “comprehensive” exam.

As far as PSA vs DRE, both have their place and I don't know enough to debate which is better. However, the DRE is more useful if you have symptoms of prostate enlargement as I do (dribbling, hesitancy, difficulty emptying your bladder, etc). If you have any issues like that, then your doctor should be doing a DRE to see if you have enlargement that they can detect.