Contenu
"Patients present with symptoms not diseases. They rely on healthcare professionals to accurately interpret them. Answering questions about patient symptoms requires good communication but also accurate interpretation of the patient's description based on knowledge of what is being described. Exploring Symptoms describes the connection between the underlying science of symptoms and the words used by patients to describe them. Though many patients may have a particular disease, each person's experience, and description of it is unique to them. Nonetheless, connecting science, the patient's words, and studies of how symptoms are presented in disease facilitates clinical reasoning and diagnostic accuracy. It is safer for patients and more professionally satisfying for clinicians. Importantly, it may lead to more judicious use of finite resources with more appropriate choice of limited diagnostic technologies"--