The more differential diagnosis you know,
the better doctor you can be
(if you follow these few points)
The aim of this web application is to provide the differential diagnoses in an organized manner in order to memorize them better.
Here are 6 steps that I advise you to follow facing any patient.
*1-Chief complaint: First of all and the most important thing is being able to extract the right chief complaint among a bunch of words that patients always tell us, even if you learn 100 times about a disease, without observing this you will get lost in patients’ words, therefor you can’t get to right diagnosis, so focus on your knowledge and don’t let the patient misleads you.
(even try to find out the chief complaint before the patient starts talking)
2-Anatomical DDxs: List the anatomical DDxs that can be involved, from the nearest part to the chief complaint to the distal parts.
3-Rule out anatomical DDxs: Rule out the anatomical DDxs based on symptoms and signs.
(figure out which organs can be involved).
4-Organic DDxs: Set DDxs of each organ that has remained in the list of anatomical DDxs.
5-Rule out organic DDxs: Rule out the organic DDxs based on symptoms and signs.
6-Investigation: Conduct investigations to rule out and rule in the remaining DDxs to get to the main diagnosis.
*Each patient is a problem, and you should solve it, so think a lot with no rush, and stay focused on these 6 steps even if it’s the 100th time you’re facing a chief complaint in order not to miss the rare diagnoses.
*I advise you not to use the provided algorithms for reaching the diagnosis because they will reduce your medical thinking ability. Just find your own way to reach the diagnosis following these 6 steps.
All DDxs are written from valid references.