Just adding my two cents...

For the first exam, I like to examine my patients in a well lit place (unfortunately at the two hospitals I attend lighting is hideous in the patient rooms-  hard to tell if a baby is blue or yellow or pink...) that has an otoscope and opthalmoscope available.  Unfortunately that place is generally in the "nursery."   There are times when 5 or more physcians are examining babies- I wish there were multiple diagnostic sets at both hospitals, but they break down, get lost, sprout legs (no they are not in the wall in the mom's rooms)- same is true for the stethoscopes.

I always call ahead to let the nurses know that I am coming.  I don't want a baby away from mom any longer than necessary either.  I enjoy having the parents at the bedside.  I also make sure that I talk to the parents after my exam (something foreign to most of my colleagues in town).

If a mom insists, I'll do the first exam in her room.  I like doing the followup exams in the parents room as much as possible.  Just some days when I have four or more newborns to see in a short rounding time it helps me a lot to "batch the exams" then talk to the moms.

I long for those leisurely days when I can spend a long time (in the hospital I call long more than 15 minutes a piece- keep in mind the average primary care doc spends only SEVEN minutes per patient) with each of my patients.  But I do have time constraints and also have to get back to the office to see patients there as well.

Some days, I would like a clone... short of that a bit of understanding would be helpful.

Pierrette Mimi Poinsett, MD
Modesto CA

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