Being stethed over clothing is my pet peeve!

I'm male, and it's been a long time since a doctor or NP stethed me bare chested. My cardiologist and his NP steth me over my shirt, most recently on December 28 over a thick flannel shirt. They both use a LIttmann Cardio IV which is a fine steth, but I know they could hear much better on bare skin. In play settings, I always have my patient take off her top and bra, and I take off my shirt for her. I've had a couple of play patients tell me that I was the first one to steth her bare chested or the first to do so since she was a child. I don't know how they can properly steth a man's heart through clothing, and getting a good listen to a woman's heart through clothing, especially if she has larger breasts and a bra in the way, seems to be more difficult if not impossible. So much easier to thoroughly auscultate the heart of a bare-chested patient, especially women with larger breasts, but it seems that few today steth patients bare-chested. What's the experience of folks here, especially women? Are you stethed over clothing or gown? Steth under clothing or gown? Chest/breasts exposed?

Same with me. When I was was a child doctors always auscultated me bare chested with just a couple of exceptions. Now it’s always through clothing. The only time I’ve been auscultated bare chested the last 25 years was if there was another reason for my shirt to be off.

I don't understand how you can listen properly through clothing getting in the way and muffling sounds.

If the doc says they want to listen to my heart, breathing or tummy it's just an automatic reaction from me to take my top off.

I've often wondered how many mitral valve murmurs in girls/women are missed by doctors who don't expose the breasts for heart listening. Every woman I've stethed said I auscultated her heart more thoroughly than her doctor did.

In a physical medical examination I believe the minimal amount of clothing should be left on. That would be bra and panties and briefs. For modesty if those items require removing a draping sheet or garment.

The last time I was stethed bare chested was 1999 for a pre-employment physical. All exams prior to that were also all bare chested. I cannot recall one single time that I was stethed with my shirt on in my youth. Since that employment physical, I cannot recall one single time of being stethed bare chested. I've either still had my shirt on, or I've been auscultated over my gown if I'm wearing one.

Would like for women to weigh in on this topic. The old GP who did the athletic physicals for our local middle school and high school stethed everybody bare chested, male or female, regardless of age. The girls who were his regular patients were used to it.

Did the girls also have their bras off?

Sort of on topic: A friend told me of being at a party, all of the participants known to me, when one woman was trying to get a doctor there to give her a prescription for her cold or congestion or some such. The doc told her he would have to listen to her chest, a lovely chest indeed, and that would require her disrobing to the waist. After a little back-and-forth, including the woman’s husband, the three of them went into a bedroom for privacy and the women removed her sweater, blouse, and bra in front of her husband and the doctor. The doctor took some time listening, and poking and prodding. The friend who related the story to me claimed it was apparent the woman’s husband had been quite stimulated by the experience.

Honestly I’ve never been listened to through clothing. I’ve had a couple of exams where I pulled my shirt up, but every other time I remember taking it off completely. I get that modesty issues are different for women than they are with men and there might be some differences in how doctors conduct an exam because of that, and every patient is different in their needs regardless of gender sometimes, but like some of the other replies in this thread asking to listen to me with a stethoscope is a cue for taking my shirt off or pulling it up. I’ve never had a doctor say I can just keep it on and hope I never do, because even as a non medically trained person I know there’s a difference in what you hear just because I own a stethoscope myself and I’ve tried it every which way.