Clinical Tip: Adolescent physicals as relaxed as a walk on the beach

Adolescent physicals as relaxed as a walk on the beach

When I know that an adolescent girl is coming in for a physical examination, I ask her to wear a two-piece bathing suit instead of underwear. This strategy spares the patient the nuisance of fiddling with an examination gown as well as embarrassment-she wears a swimsuit on the beach or at the pool, after all. I discovered the trick serendipitously when a girl came to the office for a physical on her way to the beach.

Daniel Nussbaum II, MD