PE

On "The Fading Art of the Physical Exam," by Richard Knox from NPR.org

I'm not for going back to the days of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman or even Dr. Kildare.

Since I will be a “mini-doc,” as my Advanced Health Assessment prof put it, the Stanford 25 seems like a standard to look up to as a program objective. (There are limitations/criticisms.) Nurses are trained to do a physical exam (PE). Yes, we learned these PE skills in nursing school, but do not keep it up. Depends on where we practice. In a hospital setting, MDs and diagnotic machines are within easy reach, so nurses' PE skills rust. Upon review, not many of my nursing preceptors emphasized PE skills in practice when I was a student. Many of my colleagues do not carry a stethoscope around, so I can bet they don’t listen to breath sounds or bowel sounds and are only forced to use it when they have to take a BP manually.