Evidence-Based Diagnosis In Primary Care

"Evidence-based Diagnosis in Primary Care" gives guidance on diagnosis in general practice, from the patient's first presentation with a symptom to the final establishment of a diagnosis or referral for further investigation. The book is divided into two parts: Symptoms, which details the steps necessary to reach a provisional diagnosis when a patient presents with a symptom; and Disorders, in which the more detailed assessment of that initial diagnosis is described. This is the first book to be written about diagnosis in primary care that attempts to base its guidance on the research evidence. Enough information is provided on each symptom, or condition, to decide on: the pre-test probability of each possible disorder; and how the symptoms, signs and investigations alter those probabilities to allow a conclusion to be reached about the most likely diagnosis. In addition, the book explains the principles of evidence-based diagnosis, with special emphasis on the issues raised by attempting an evidence-based approach in primary care; and it illustrates each section with an example to demonstrate the power, and the difficulties, of an evidence-based approach.This book will become a classic primary care text.