Description
Excerpt from Case Teaching in Medicine: A Series of Graduated Exercises in the Differential Diagnosis, Prognosis and Treatment of Actual Cases of Disease
The most important lesson to be learned by every student of medicine is the art of recognizing the physical signs of disease, a displaced cardiac apex, a succussion-sound, an argyle-robertson pupil, a malarial parasite. With these basic facts we can become familiar only by direct contact with patients and by long practice.
But these data of physical diagnosis have to be interpreted. They do not crystallize spontaneously into conclusions. They do not arrange themselves in those significant groups which we call diseases. They have to be worked up into diagnoses by a reasoning process, and this reasoning needs practice. A man may collect with accuracy and thoroughness the data of the history and the physical examination, and then find that he does not know what they mean, what judgment can safely be based upon them, which of them are of primary and which of secondary importance.
For this secondary and relatively easy step in the development of medical knowledge, one does not need the actual presence of a patient. With a book and a teacher it can be learned anywhere and at any time as well as in the clinic. Indeed it is easier to concentrate atten tion upon the processes of memory, comparison, and exclusion, which form the essence of diagnostic reasoning, if the senses are not distracted by the presence of the patient. After the student has learned to open his eyes and see, he must learn to shut them and think, and when he is thinking the less he has to distract him the better.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
The most important lesson to be learned by every student of medicine is the art of recognizing the physical signs of disease, a displaced cardiac apex, a succussion-sound, an argyle-robertson pupil, a malarial parasite. With these basic facts we can become familiar only by direct contact with patients and by long practice.
But these data of physical diagnosis have to be interpreted. They do not crystallize spontaneously into conclusions. They do not arrange themselves in those significant groups which we call diseases. They have to be worked up into diagnoses by a reasoning process, and this reasoning needs practice. A man may collect with accuracy and thoroughness the data of the history and the physical examination, and then find that he does not know what they mean, what judgment can safely be based upon them, which of them are of primary and which of secondary importance.
For this secondary and relatively easy step in the development of medical knowledge, one does not need the actual presence of a patient. With a book and a teacher it can be learned anywhere and at any time as well as in the clinic. Indeed it is easier to concentrate atten tion upon the processes of memory, comparison, and exclusion, which form the essence of diagnostic reasoning, if the senses are not distracted by the presence of the patient. After the student has learned to open his eyes and see, he must learn to shut them and think, and when he is thinking the less he has to distract him the better.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Details
Publisher - Forgotten Books
Language - English
Hardback
Contributors
Author
Richard C. Cabot
Published Date -
ISBN - 9780428240288
Dimensions - 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.2 cm
Page Count - 227
Paperback
Contributors
Author
Richard C. Cabot
Published Date -
ISBN - 9781330675397
Dimensions - 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.2 cm
Page Count - 229
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