I've had a wide range of approaches, depending upon my age and the decade. My inherited parent's internist, who picked me up early teen years, late 1960's, had an old school nurse who only escorted. Everything was done by the doctor, who appeared only once I had undressed to briefs, and there was no medical history or questions. He went to work with directives and left. I saw him after a gap in the late 1980's. He was still doing everything. I was still in briefs. And he still didn't ask questions. NYC doctors, 1990-2003. Doctor met in large exam room and covers history as I undressed. Nurse does everything, with me in gown, from history to hernia/prostate, the only point the doctor appeared. Several doctor shows into exam room with undressing instructions, underwear only, gown only or naked. Doctor returns and does exam, asking questions along the way. Several dressed in doctor's office for history, after which I am brought into an exam room to undress. Doctor returns to perform exam. Undressing is almost always to underwear only. One confusing situation. The NP covered the vital signs, then left with no instructions. The doctor came in, covered the history and then instructed to undress. In Maine, 2008-present, the NP does vitals, starts the history and leaves. The doctor does a fully dressed physical based on what a laptop tells him, given my age, so misses that from the start, I might or might not be representative of my age. Yes, lab work, if done before the appointment, might trigger questions. Or not.
My response? I don't care who does vital signs or the history since all are qualified. I am fine, very happy in fact, if I meet a new doctor already undressed, even if he wants to cover some questions and concerns. I would rather have that time for the exam than spent with him coming and going and coming back. NYC doctors were impervious, as a group, from their various hospitals and med schools, to having patients in underwear only or less. I never got a pause, even if they entered an exam room to find me naked on the scale checking my weight. They thankfully got head-to-toe, skin, nails, etc. inspections.