Medical Diagnosis - The Art
Medical diagnosis is essentially the way a physician assesses the symptoms and physical signs of an individual and assigns a label for a specific medical condition or disease.
Based upon the signs, symptoms and results from various diagnostic procedures; such as lab tests conducted with blood work or other forms of analysis, a firm diagnosis can be made.
Diagnostic criteria is a generalized term used to describe the combination of signs, symptoms and tests which allow a clinician to make an effective diagnosis of a form of disease.
In today's medical world, it is the role of a clinician to make an educated diagnosis based upon particular criteria.
Doctors are of course required to go through intense medical training and education, plus a stringent series of procedures and tests before they ever obtain a license to practice.
Many family practitioners literally spend upwards of 15 to 20 years in various schools or undergoing various training procedures prior to being allowed to run their own clinic.
Not only does a physician need to understand terms of normality, or homeostasis of the body, they also must understand the anatomy, physiology, pathology and psychology of the human body.
In order for a clinician to determine what is normal, they must be able to measure a patient's current condition against the normal range of results.
Then they must determine where the patient departed from homeostasis and how to treat the problem.
Medical Art? Some individuals have likened making a medical diagnosis to a form of art; superior clinicians are set apart by their ability to move beyond the simple science of lab tests and delve into the manipulation of physical knowledge created thousands of years ago by ancient physicians such as Hippocrates.
In the modern world, many clinicians have come to rely upon lab work rather than physically checking a patient's symptoms.
The days of doctors rigorously poking and prodding your body are fading, much to the detriment of many professionals.
According to Dr.
Steven Y.
Park, MD, the problem with many doctors these days is their obsession with discovering a rare or exotic diagnosis in order to establish a form of celebrity.
This is not only a hindrance to medicine, but also a disservice to the patients.
Unfortunately, this has led to a wide variety of patients being misdiagnosed because the clinicians are failing to perform thorough physical exams.
Many of the doctors are focusing upon rare oddities rather than mundane medical conditions that are simple to diagnose and easy to treat, but are passed over in favor of searching for that elusive super-disease.
Establishing a diagnosis should begin with attentive listening, understanding a patient's lifestyle and life stressors, and obtaining a holistic overview of the patient's symptoms - as opposed to a simple review of laboratory work and imaging that is most common today.
Many of the simplest problems patients are suffering from can be diagnosed by physically inspecting the patient and taking the time to speak with them about their history, rather than looking at a chart and making a 'guesstimate'.
It is for this reason that many individuals turn to alternative medical practitioners, as holistic overviews are mandatory in such practices.
Based upon the signs, symptoms and results from various diagnostic procedures; such as lab tests conducted with blood work or other forms of analysis, a firm diagnosis can be made.
Diagnostic criteria is a generalized term used to describe the combination of signs, symptoms and tests which allow a clinician to make an effective diagnosis of a form of disease.
In today's medical world, it is the role of a clinician to make an educated diagnosis based upon particular criteria.
Doctors are of course required to go through intense medical training and education, plus a stringent series of procedures and tests before they ever obtain a license to practice.
Many family practitioners literally spend upwards of 15 to 20 years in various schools or undergoing various training procedures prior to being allowed to run their own clinic.
Not only does a physician need to understand terms of normality, or homeostasis of the body, they also must understand the anatomy, physiology, pathology and psychology of the human body.
In order for a clinician to determine what is normal, they must be able to measure a patient's current condition against the normal range of results.
Then they must determine where the patient departed from homeostasis and how to treat the problem.
Medical Art? Some individuals have likened making a medical diagnosis to a form of art; superior clinicians are set apart by their ability to move beyond the simple science of lab tests and delve into the manipulation of physical knowledge created thousands of years ago by ancient physicians such as Hippocrates.
In the modern world, many clinicians have come to rely upon lab work rather than physically checking a patient's symptoms.
The days of doctors rigorously poking and prodding your body are fading, much to the detriment of many professionals.
According to Dr.
Steven Y.
Park, MD, the problem with many doctors these days is their obsession with discovering a rare or exotic diagnosis in order to establish a form of celebrity.
This is not only a hindrance to medicine, but also a disservice to the patients.
Unfortunately, this has led to a wide variety of patients being misdiagnosed because the clinicians are failing to perform thorough physical exams.
Many of the doctors are focusing upon rare oddities rather than mundane medical conditions that are simple to diagnose and easy to treat, but are passed over in favor of searching for that elusive super-disease.
Establishing a diagnosis should begin with attentive listening, understanding a patient's lifestyle and life stressors, and obtaining a holistic overview of the patient's symptoms - as opposed to a simple review of laboratory work and imaging that is most common today.
Many of the simplest problems patients are suffering from can be diagnosed by physically inspecting the patient and taking the time to speak with them about their history, rather than looking at a chart and making a 'guesstimate'.
It is for this reason that many individuals turn to alternative medical practitioners, as holistic overviews are mandatory in such practices.
