“Make thorough inspection.”
— Sir William Osler, MD.

The art of the physical exam is precisely that — an art — and it must be practised often, for years on end, and though a doctor may become greatly skilled in it, the art will never be mastered.

When I trained in internal medicine more than a decade ago, our program director often harped on this art. I was too naive to understand his message at the time.

But it became quite apparent after training when I saw others perform a subpar exam (although I’m not in any way stating that I am an expert).