This is a book for medical students and first-year doctors who wish to learn how to approach a patient's symptoms, and sharpen their skills of clinical reasoning and diagnosis.Fifty-four presenting symptoms are discussed, covering approaches and conditions across various medical and surgical disciplines. Each chapter sets out the thought process behind history, examination, and investigations for a symptom, providing a systematic and practical algorithm to distinguish one differential from another. The reader will gain not only a functional approach to patients' presenting complaints, but also learn how to better organize and apply medical knowledge in diagnostic reasoning.
This is a book for medical students and first-year doctors who wish to learn how to approach a patient's symptoms, and sharpen their skills of clinical reasoning and diagnosis. Fifty-four presenting symptoms are discussed, covering approaches and conditions across various medical and surgical disciplines. Each chapter sets out the thought process behind history, examination, and investigations for a symptom, providing a systematic and practical algorithm to distinguish one differential from another. The reader will gain not only a functional approach to patients' presenting complaints, but also learn how to better organize and apply medical knowledge in diagnostic reasoning.
As a Patient - Would you like a "Patient Listener"? Are you tired of Medicine/Treatment "Trial and Error", at your expense? Are you tired of being shuffled from one Doctor to another? Do you want to "get better" and "stay better"? As a Doctor – Would you like more good information from Patients, relevant to their symptoms? Would you like to help Patients "get better" and "stay better"? Are you open to venturing out of your "comfort zone" in diagnosing and treating patients? Do you sometimes wonder if there is more to diagnosing/treating than what you were taught in Medical School? As a Health/Medical Innovator, Inventor, Engineer, Writer, other Creative Person – Are you looking for some new ideas? Would you like to "Interface" with the "Dr. Within" each of us? As an Insurance Company - Would you like to "pay out" less? If you answered yes to any of the above, maybe this book is for you. This book describes the Concepts of a "Patient Listener" and a "Super Symptom Checker" – Human, Computer, and/or Computer-Assisted Human – Considering the "Big Picture" around Health and/or Symptoms. This book is about 250 pages, a little over half written text. The remainder contains many Reference Links, from which you can build upon and learn from. The author of this book has set up Discussion Groups for this book to help others share, network, collaborate, etc. *** Use of the Information in this book may help the Patient, Doctor, and/or Others "Get Better". Some common Side Effects may include: A better understanding of what affects Health and Symptoms, Seeing the big picture surrounding Symptoms, Better health, less dependence on medication/treatment, generally "feeling better", Experiencing less perceived stress, more contentment with self and life, Perceiving more control of your life, in general, realizing there are always options no matter what, New insights on what could be done to make "it" better. Note - Continued Use of the Information in this book may result in "Staying Better". Ask your Doctor if "Getting Better" and "Staying Better" are right for you. :-)
This is a book for candidates preparing for the MRCP PACES examination, designed to aid in the consolidation of clinical knowledge and skills, and its application in the exam setting.
This popular reference facilitates diagnostic and therapeutic decision making for a wide range of common and often complex problems faced in outpatient and inpatient medicine. Comprehensive algorithmic decision trees guide you through more than 245 disorders organized by sign, symptom, problem, or laboratory abnormality. The brief text accompanying each algorithm explains the key steps of the decision making process, giving you the clear, clinical guidelines you need to successfully manage even your toughest cases. An algorithmic format makes it easy to apply the practical, decision-making approaches used by seasoned clinicians in daily practice. Comprehensive coverage of general and internal medicine helps you successfully diagnose and manage a full range of diseases and disorders related to women's health, emergency medicine, urology, behavioral medicine, pharmacology, and much more. A Table of Contents arranged by organ system helps you to quickly and easily zero in on the information you need. More than a dozen new topics focus on the key diseases and disorders encountered in daily practice. Fully updated decision trees guide you through the latest diagnostic and management guidelines.
Getting the right diagnosis is a key aspect of health care - it provides an explanation of a patient's health problem and informs subsequent health care decisions. The diagnostic process is a complex, collaborative activity that involves clinical reasoning and information gathering to determine a patient's health problem. According to Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, diagnostic errors-inaccurate or delayed diagnoses-persist throughout all settings of care and continue to harm an unacceptable number of patients. It is likely that most people will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, sometimes with devastating consequences. Diagnostic errors may cause harm to patients by preventing or delaying appropriate treatment, providing unnecessary or harmful treatment, or resulting in psychological or financial repercussions. The committee concluded that improving the diagnostic process is not only possible, but also represents a moral, professional, and public health imperative. Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, a continuation of the landmark Institute of Medicine reports To Err Is Human (2000) and Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001), finds that diagnosis-and, in particular, the occurrence of diagnostic errorsâ€"has been largely unappreciated in efforts to improve the quality and safety of health care. Without a dedicated focus on improving diagnosis, diagnostic errors will likely worsen as the delivery of health care and the diagnostic process continue to increase in complexity. Just as the diagnostic process is a collaborative activity, improving diagnosis will require collaboration and a widespread commitment to change among health care professionals, health care organizations, patients and their families, researchers, and policy makers. The recommendations of Improving Diagnosis in Health Care contribute to the growing momentum for change in this crucial area of health care quality and safety.
The definitive evidence-based introduction to patient history-taking NOW IN FULL COLOR For medical students and other health professions students, an accurate differential diagnosis starts with The Patient History. The ideal companion to major textbooks on the physical examination, this trusted guide is widely acclaimed for its skill-building, and evidence based approach to the medical history. Now in full color, The Patient History defines best practices for the patient interview, explaining how to effectively elicit information from the patient in order to generate an accurate differential diagnosis. The second edition features all-new chapters, case scenarios, and a wealth of diagnostic algorithms. Introductory chapters articulate the fundamental principles of medical interviewing. The book employs a rigorous evidenced-based approach, reviewing and highlighting relevant citations from the literature throughout each chapter. Features NEW! Case scenarios introduce each chapter and place history-taking principles in clinical context NEW! Self-assessment multiple choice Q&A conclude each chapter—an ideal review for students seeking to assess their retention of chapter material NEW! Full-color presentation Essential chapter on red eye, pruritus, and hair loss Symptom-based chapters covering 59 common symptoms and clinical presentations Diagnostic approach section after each chapter featuring color algorithms and several multiple-choice questions Hundreds of practical, high-yield questions to guide the history, ranging from basic queries to those appropriate for more experienced clinicians
"This book is a tremendous asset for students and residents learning to develop their diagnostic skills. It can also be useful as a refresher for established clinicians when the more common diagnoses are not the cause of a patient's complaints." —Doody's Review An engaging case-based approach to learning the diagnostic process in internal medicine Doody's Core Titles for 2023! Symptom to Diagnosis, Fourth Edition teaches an evidence-based, step-by-step process for evaluating, diagnosing, and treating patients based on their clinical complaints. By applying this process clinicians will be able to recognize specific diseases and prescribe the most effective therapy. Each chapter is built around a common patient complaint that illustrates essential concepts and provides insight into the process by which the differential diagnosis is identified. As the case progresses, clinical reasoning is explained in detail. The differential diagnosis for that particular case is summarized in tables that highlight the clinical clues and important tests for the leading diagnostic hypothesis and alternative diagnostic hypotheses. As the chapter progresses, the pertinent diseases are reviewed. Just as in real life, the case unfolds in a stepwise fashion as tests are performed and diagnoses are confirmed or refuted. Completely updated to reflect the latest research in clinical medicine, this fourth edition is enhanced by algorithms, summary tables, questions that direct evaluation, and an examination of recently developed diagnostic tools and guidelines. Clinical pearls are featured in every chapter. Coverage for each disease includes: Textbook Presentation, Disease Highlights, Evidence-Based Diagnosis, and Treatment.
Using symptom-based and problem-based approaches, this indispensable text teaches medical students how to apply critical thinking and clinical reasoning to develop diagnostic competence. It is also suitable for any doctor who wishes to refresh his/her clinical approaches to pediatric patients. With 50 carefully selected pediatric problems that are likely to be encountered in medical practice, each chapter is written in a user-friendly style and takes you through the fundamental thought process needed to arrive at the most likely diagnosis. This thought process includes: - Understanding the correct definition of the clinical problem - Recognizing the symptoms of the clinical problem - Analyzing the pathophysiology behind the problem - Creating a prioritized list of differential diagnosis - Having a robust clinical approach/algorithm that enables one to arrive at the correct diagnosis - Evaluating for red flag signs and symptoms - Honing the thought process through the use of over 50 clinical case scenarios with structured self-reflection questions and answers Foreword by Dr Naveen Thacker, President of Asia Pacific Pediatric Association Peer reviewed by members of Asia Pacific Pediatric Association With 50 carefully selected pediatric problems that are likely to be encountered in medical practice, each chapter is written in a user-friendly style and takes you through the fundamental thought process needed to arrive at the most likely diagnosis. This thought process includes: - Understanding the correct definition of the clinical problem - Recognizing the symptoms of the clinical problem - Analyzing the pathophysiology behind the problem - Creating a prioritized list of differential diagnosis - Having a robust clinical approach/algorithm that enables one to arrive at the correct diagnosis - Evaluating for red flag signs and symptoms - Honing the thought process through the use of over 50 clinical case scenarios with structured self-reflection questions and answers Foreword by Dr Naveen Thacker, President of Asia Pacific Pediatric Association Peer reviewed by members of Asia Pacific Pediatric Association
This handy guide is packed full of information to support medical students, junior doctors and other health professionals in making an accurate diagnosis in relation to different presenting complaints. Now in its fifth edition, the Pocketbook takes the reader through the key steps of narrowing a differential diagnosis, including history, examination and investigation findings. It has been fully updated to cover the full range of common presenting problems facing clinicians today. This book is easy-to-read and logical, making it useful for all clinicians within a variety of settings, from the classroom to emergency department and primary care. - Traffic light system to allow consideration of common before rarer diagnoses - Hazard symbols to highlight diagnoses that may need rapid assessment and management - Summary boxes, with a focus on malignancy red flag symptoms - Updated terminology and investigations - This Fifth Edition covers 125 common presenting problems in both medicine and surgery in a consistent format. - Each topic includes a list of all potential causes of the condition, colour coded to indicate common, occasional or rare causes. Important geographical variations are also highlighted. - Two sections cover the differential diagnosis of biochemical and haematological disorders which provide a ready check when reviewing abnormal results - The text includes a targeted guide to the relevant general and specific follow-up investigations which should be carried out as appropriate. - Each topic ends with a box highlighting important learning points, or indicating symptom and signs suggestive of significant pathology which require urgent action. - A new authorial team have thoroughly revised the contents and ensured the coverage is entirely appropriate for the book's readership.
