8 Tricks Doctors use to know your Diagnosis
Have you ever wondered how a doctor seems to have a prescription for everything?
You have a headache- Bam! Take this!
You have a fever- Bam! Take two tablets of this.
Your urine looks funny- Bam! This should clear you up.
Amazing right? So what is the secret behind this superhuman ability?
1. Common Things Occur Commonly.
You might think your case is unique, but a doctor who has practiced for a short time has probably seen hundreds of such cases. Just like driving a car, treating that case has become a part of the doctor, he can treat it while asleep.
2. The Power of Differential Diagnosis.
Several illnesses present the same way, and it could be one of a group of possibilities. Whichever the doctor thinks it is, he may follow that line of management.
3. Well, you need to do some Tests.
This is a sure get out clause, giving the doctor time to consult his notes; who wouldn’t agree to some tests to help get at the root of a problem?
4. Hey Fred, take a look at This.
The power of a second opinion- Who wouldn’t want two doctors taking out time to see one patient.
5. Sometimes, Tests come with Answers.
Tests like Microscopy, culture and sensitivity come with recommended drugs to use, leaving the physician to take all the credit.
6. The Symptom Approach.
For Pain = give analgesic; Fever = give anti-pyretic (anti-fever); For Malaria= give anti-malarial. (You didn’t hear that from me.)
7. Watch and See
The conservative approach- Who wouldn’t want his doctor to say, “It’s probably nothing, it will go in a few days. Well, if it hasn’t gone in a few days, the doctor would have at least read about it.
8. And if all else fails…
Well, uhm…Kindly give me a minute, I need to check something.
So, have you ever come across a doctor who didn’t know everything?
Actually, I’ve come across doctors I knew more about the case than, at that point in time, simply because I had probably read so indepth about it before I got to the hospital in the first place. I’ve corrected one or two doctors on some prognosis.
I usually read through the scoping of some doctors though, especially when they don’t really know what it is. Takes away my confidence in the doctor at that point .
Hahaha, don’t crucify us, we are only human.