How do you view signs and symptoms? How do you interpret it? I mean any algorithm you follow when hearing a specific sign or symptoms? And if so, what it is , and are there any website/databases/resources do you view?
Simply the signs and symptoms are keys for every thing surrounded us.
In a clinical perspective, signs are those objectively verifiable indications of ill health such as fever, high blood pressure and low platelet count. Symptoms however, are subjective indications that are often reported by the patient or a proxy thereof. Both signs and symptoms must be interpreted in context and after a full work up of the patient. You must combine patient history and physical exam with the review of systems to come up with a working clinical diagnosis upon which you may base your empirical intervention pending laboratory diagnosis. I hope this helps.
Symptoms are the complains of the patients
Signs are detected by the examiners
I agree with Ishaq with some caveats:
Caveat-1: Not all diseases present with symptoms, e.g., 'hypertension' is notorious for presenting with no symptoms in the patient, that is why blood pressure checks are important in all.
Caveat-2: Not all disease present with mental and/or physical signs.
2.1 Early disease may present with "slight splenomegaly" (slight enlargement of the spleen: For example, 50% of examiners will feel the spleen; 50% of examiners will not).
2.2 An examiner's hands may be too small to palpate the internal organ that is causing the patient's problem.
Dennis
Dennis Mazur
History taking is a very important tool for diagnosis and follow up of patients, it involves thorough interaction and full cooperation between the doctor and patient. symptoms expressed by the patient should be clear and well understood, since some can not express their feelings, which make you ask leading (misleading) questions which sometimes complicate the picture. Well signs are the act of the examiner,and depend on the experience gained during work with patients of different levels.The most important part is good ,passionate relationship to gain confidence of the patient and help threat any complaint.
Dear Dr Elsersy,
Of course signs and symptoms are the first clue for good diagnosis and choice of the requested investigational workup. Algorithms will differ according to different situations. As a general rule, you should spend sufficient time to have the correct symptoms and then signs of the presenting patient. After acquiring the correct symptoms and signs you can now define the disease category you are facing. Accordingly, different algorithms might be there. But more important try to fined a clue for your approach after acquiring your full data.
Thank you all! I'll come back to you with more Qs with regard to this matter
Signs are which you/Clinicians observe on patient's suffering while symptoms are what patient suffers and explains to you as his chief complaints
for signs you need to see
P Plallor
I Icterus
C Cyanosis
K Kolinchyia
L Lymph Node Enlargement
E Edema
this totally falls under the practice of history taking patient might tell u clues, on which basis you frame provisional diagnosis
Hello Mostafa Elsersy,
Firstly, to say your question is too generalized. There is no such database/website exist which gives you an idea of how to examine or interpret the signs & symptoms. It all depends and varies from disease to disease and individual to individual. You CANNOT generalize on this. The only way to assess /examine/identify the signs & symptoms are by "History taking" and laboratory examinations. And rest of the things like definition/differentiation of the terms were already mentioned above. And you can also consider the response provided by Manik Chhabra in order to get some basic idea.
I hope this helps.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Medicine