Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode we're going to be moving on to a whole new surgical specialty,

which is breast surgery.

And we're going to start with an episode on Breast Examination.

And if you want to find written notes on this topic, as always, you can find

them at zero to finals.com slash breast slash examination or in the breast surgery section of the

zero to finals surgery book. So let's get straight into it. Breast examination is a common, intimate

examination that appears in OSCI exams.

It's also an essential skill in clinical practice, particularly in primary care and surgery.

Let's talk about some general principles to start with.

Always explain the process and the reason for the examination to the patient before the examination.

Obtain informed consent.

Have a chaperone present and explain their role and also document this,

along with the full name of the chaperone.

Allow the patient to get undressed and dressed in privacy.

Allow the patient to remain covered until just before the examination.

Ask about any areas of pain before we start palpating.

Ask the patient to point out any abnormalities that they've noticed so you don't miss them on your examination

and use your examination to teach the patient how to self-examine.

Let's talk about inspection. Ask the patient to sit on

the side of the bed so that you can inspect the breasts straight on, comparing both sides.

Inspect the breasts in three positions. Firstly, relaxed with the arms by the sides. Secondly,

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