Family Physicians’ Experiences of Physical Examination

Martina Ann Kelly; Lisa Kathryn Freeman; Tim Dornan

doi:10.1370/afm.2420

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When you are summoned
Boghos Artinian

Published on: 27 January 2021
Do experienced physicians and residents feel the same?
Mari Aihara

Published on: 08 August 2019

Published on: (27 January 2021)
Page navigation anchor for When you are summoned
When you are summoned
Boghos Artinian, physician, Lebanese Order of Physicians
When you are summoned

When you’re summoned a bit too late
In the middle of the night,
And on your way upstairs, someone says:
‘Doctor! I think he is gone:’
You might think, ‘oh well,
There’s nothing to be done’.

When you find him motionless;
His face mottled, his lips blue,
And you’re told he’d been snoring
Just a few moments before,
You start pondering
How often you snore.

When you see the incredulity
Stressfully contorting faces,
As you pronounce their father dead,
And utter your condolences,
You start apprehending
Some resemblances.

And when you hear rhythmless thumping
Upon chests, and wails discordant;
The angry strides of aimless
Wandering of a bereaved spouse,
You can’t help realizing
This could have been your house.

For when they start frantically
Shaking him and pleading in vain,
You will painfully remember
How your folks shook you years before,
Back to consciousness
On the bathroom floor.

Boghos L. Artinian

Competing Interests: None declared.
Published on: (8 August 2019)
Page navigation anchor for Do experienced physicians and residents feel the same?
Do experienced physicians and residents feel the same?
Mari Aihara, MD
Other Contributors:
Dear Author, Along with the recent progress in medical technology, it has been pointed out that physicians tend to rely on advanced diagnostic modalities [1,2]. We applaud Kelly et al. [3] for shedding light on the meaning of physical examination from family physicians' perspective. In this study [3], the authors interviewed 16 family physicians with different years of practice and elucidated that physical examination is...
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Dear Author, Along with the recent progress in medical technology, it has been pointed out that physicians tend to rely on advanced diagnostic modalities [1,2]. We applaud Kelly et al. [3] for shedding light on the meaning of physical examination from family physicians' perspective. In this study [3], the authors interviewed 16 family physicians with different years of practice and elucidated that physical examination is important for family physicians not only as a diagnostic clue, but also for building rapport with and trust in their patients. As a current family medicine resident, however, I felt that there could be some scope to enrich this qualitative study by engaging more family medicine residents. Half of the participants had a clinical experience more than 20 years, whom we call the "experts." It seems that most quotes written in this paper were by experienced physicians, which could potentially mean that the residents' perspective was not fully reflected. For instance, doctors with longer clinical experience tended to notice the importance of "Physical examination as pathic," whereas younger doctors seemed to focus on NOT missing diagnosis and could not afford to realize the significance of physical exam as being pathic. Assuming that experienced physicians and residents have different perspectives about physical examination, it may be useful for studies in the future to focus on residents' perspective in detail for developing an effective physical examination curriculum during residency.
1 Jain, A., Mehta, N., Secko, M., Schechter, J., Papanagnou, D., Pandya, S., & Sinert, R. History, Physical Examination, Laboratory Testing, and Emergency Department Ultrasonography for the Diagnosis of Acute Cholecystitis. Academic Emergency Medicine, 2017;24(3), 281- 297.doi:10.1111/acem.13132 2 Benabbas, R., Hanna, M., Shah, J., & Sinert, R. Diagnostic Accuracy of History, Physical Examination, Laboratory Tests, and Point-of-care Ultrasound for Pediatric Acute Appendicitis in the Emergency Department: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Academic Emergency Medicine, 2017;24(5), 523-551.doi:10.1111/acem.13181 3 Kelly, M. A., Freeman, L. K., & Dornan, T. Family Physicians' Experiences of Physical Examination. The Annals of Family Medicine, 2019;17(4), 304-310. doi:10.1370/afm.2420
Competing interests: None declared
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Competing Interests: None declared.