Balance Diagnostics & Therapy Health History: Fill & Download for Free

Simply, flawed.Whether the physician is in primary care or a specialist, illnesses and diseases present in ways that defy textbooks and lectures. In my years as a chief resident, chief fellow, peer review consultant and associate medical director, I've learned that when it comes to difficult clinical decisions, most physicians are tripped up in 2 ways: Common diseases presenting uncommonly and uncommon diseases presenting commonly.Most physicians will draw upon pattern recognition to diagnose and execute the necessary diagnostic exams and/or therapeutic maneuvers. Pattern recognition allows the physician to work efficiently with rapid cognition using partial data - most of the times, using this methodology the physician will ultimately discover the best plan for their patient, whether it be in a busy clinic or during a surgical procedure. When common diseases present commonly, pattern recognition is the preferred and best method - all physicians and institutions work in significant time constraints and pressures. It is impossible for a physicians to have the luxury of time to consider every single possible option before taking action. Institutional demands, financial pressures, patient expectations and the diseases themselves won't allow for it. Physicians must draw upon pattern recognition (or instinct, or "blink" for Malcolm Gladwell readers) to balance diagnostic accuracy with efficiency.The intrinsic flaw with this type of thinking is that it is hinged on experience. Senior physicians will have a deeper well of experiential knowledge to draw from and hence their accuracy will be potentially higher and/or faster than their junior counterparts (generally speaking).It is also flawed when common disease present uncommonly and when uncommon disease present commonly. These paradigms flies against the pattern-recognition methodology. Ask any parent whose child presented with atpyical anything and you'll find delays in diagnosis or treatment - sometimes at a dear cost. An unusual presentation of seizure (common disease) could lead physicians on a wild goose chase. A rare disease such as Loeffler's syndrome will often be misdiagnosed as asthma.A physician's thought process is flawed. To not recognize this is dangerous. Physician's who do not recognize this will operate with over-confidence and will succumb to ego in the face of erroneous diagnosis that requires one to change therapeutic directions. Patients who do not recognize this will always be passive rather than active participants to their own health.The challenge is not to change the way physicians think. Time pressures are real and universal. Rather, the challenge (and opportunity) is to develop system-level tools that will aid in physician thinking and catch those patients that do not respond to conventional therapy raising the flag ever so earlier for misdiagnoses.

My favourite PoemAuthor - MeTwo decades ago, I passed out of the medical schoolFresh as mint, cucumber cool.I was always best in class,Full of knowledge, no one could surpassMedical textbooks were Bible to me,ECG, ECHO, Angio were the diagnostic key.Looking for pathology was the main issue,To me, it was all disordered blood, bone and tissue.Day in and day out like a robot,Finding the correct diagnosis was all I sought.Updating knowledge, what’s latest and hot,Delivering it to the patients, was most vital, I thought.Pills, injections, catheters and balloonsI believed was medical miracle and boon.-Two decades later, I now realizeIn such a practice there is no prize,I forgot, there was something more,Left out in the medical curriculum coreTo hold a hand and wipe a tearA hand to support, a pat to cheerEven the worst disease, on a deadly trail,Where all the medical high-tech fail,A little compassion can make us sail,Through rough waters and sudden gale.A child’s smile and parent’s thankIs all the balance that I have in my bankLooking back, I think I was a fool,Mint fresh, cucumber cool.

You’re going to handle someone’s life all by yourself in a few years! So be serious when it comes to studies.Don’t believe in “I’ll study now and enjoy later”. This is an absolute myth. That ‘later’ is never going to come. Learn to balance between studies and enjoyment.Clinical skills >>> theory marks. This needs no elaboration.Don’t get upset when your professors try to make you feel inferior. They too have gone through same amount of humiliation by their professors. If they’re surviving today,then you will too, tomorrow.Learn to be patient & humble. Know the art of compassion. There are already enough diagnostics and pharmaceutics.The world needs doctors who can make the patients feel better with their kindness rather than just medicine, try to be one.