Besides its location relative to the internal ostium, the placenta is often neglected during a routine ultrasound scan. This is somewhat extraordinary, since placenta insufficiency leads to serious maternal and fetal complications. The aim of this study was to investigate to what extent the placenta is examined during routine ultrasounds in a Dutch academic hospital. A questionnaire with 42 closed-ended questions was sent to sonographers, gynecologists and residents of the Maastricht University Medical Centre. Participants used a scale from 1-5 (never-almost never-regularly–routinely–always), to indicate to what extend location, structure, morphology, thickness and umbilical cord insertion are assessed during routine scans. Furthermore, ultrasound images and theses were used to determine knowledge and importance attached to placental features. Descriptive statistics, univariate models and spearman's correlation coefficient were used for statistical analysis. Forty participants filled in the questionnaire. On average, placental location is routinely assessed (4.08±0.158). Furthermore, structure (2.97±0.201), placental lakes (3.25±0.208) and calcifications (2.92±0.210) are examined regularly. Nonetheless, the vast majority of participants were unable to differentiate between different types of placental lakes (91.4%) or different grades of calcification (92%). Moreover, umbilical cord insertion, morphology and thickness are poorly examined. The extent to which the placenta is examined correlates with the subjective importance attached to this examination (p=0.019) and number of weekly obstetric ultrasounds performed (p=0.03). Placental location, structure and lakes are regularly examined during routine ultrasound, while morphology, umbilical cord insertion and placental thickness are generally ignored. Furthermore, participants are unable to discriminate between different placental lakes or calcification grading. A lack of time and knowledge on clinical relevance seems to be an important feature in the poor examination of the placenta. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.