RT Book, Section
A1 Stern, Scott D.C.
A1 Cifu, Adam S.
A1 Altkorn, Diane
SR Print(0)
ID 1102642278
T1 Preface
T2 Symptom to Diagnosis: An Evidence-Based Guide, 3e
YR 2014
FD 2014
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9780071803441
LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1102642278
RD 2024/04/25
AB Our  goal  in  creating  Symptom  to  Diagnosis  was  to  develop  an  interesting,  practical,  and  informative  approach  to  teaching  the  diagnostic  process  in  internal  medicine.  Interesting,  because  real  patient  cases  are  integrated  within  each  chapter,  complementing  what  can  otherwise  be  dry  and  soporific.  Informative,  because  Symptom  to  Diagnosis  articulates  the  most  difficult  process  in  becoming  a  physician:  making  an  accurate  diagnosis.  Many  other  textbooks  describe  diseases,  but  fail  to  characterize  the  process  that  leads  from  patient  presentation  to  diagnosis.  Although  students  can,  and  often  do,  learn  this  process  through  intuition  and  experience  without  direct  instruction,  we  believe  that  diagnostic  reasoning  is  a  difficult  task  that  can  be  deciphered  and  made  easier  for  students.  Furthermore,  in  many  books  the  description  of  the  disease  is  oversimplified,  and  the  available  evidence  on  the  predictive  value  of  symptoms,  signs,  and  diagnostic  test  results  is  not  included.  Teaching  based  on  the  classic  presentation  often  fails  to  help  less  experienced  physicians  recognize  the  common,  but  atypical  presentation.  This  oversight,  combined  with  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  test  characteristics,  often  leads  to  prematurely  dismissing  diagnoses.