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Encyclopedia > Clinical examination

In medicine, physical examination, or clinical examination, is the process by which the physician investigates the body of a patient for signs of disease . It generally follows the taking of the anamnesis (medical history) - an account of the symptoms as experienced by the patient. Together with it, physical examination aids in determining the correct diagnosis and devising the treatment plan. It forms part of the medical record. Medicine is a branch of health science concerned with maintaining health and restoring it by treating disease. ... A physician is a person who practices medicine. ... In semantics, the patient is the passive part of a process. ... In medicine, a sign is a feature of disease as detected by the doctor. ... A disease is any abnormal condition of the body or mind that causes discomfort, dysfunction, or distress to the person affected or those in contact with the person. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The term symptom (from the Greek syn = con/plus and pipto = fall, together meaning co-exist) has two similar meanings in the context of physical and mental health: A symptom can be a physical condition which shows that one has a particular illness or disorder (see e. ... Diagnosis (from the Greek words dia = by and gnosis = knowledge) is the process of identifying a disease by its signs, symptoms and results of various diagnostic procedures. ... Therapy (in Greek: θεραπεία) or treatment is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a diagnosis. ... A medical record is a compilation of medical data relating to a patient. ...


Although doctors have varying approaches as to the sequence of body parts, a systematic examination starts at the head and finishes at the extremities. After the main organ systems have been investigated by inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation, specific tests may follow (such as a neurological investigation, orthopedics) or specific tests when a particular disease is suspected (e.g. eliciting Trousseau's sign in hypocalcemia). For other uses of the word head, see head (disambiguation). ... Extremities is a play by William Mastrosimone that was first performed on Broadway in 1982. ... Palpation is a method of examination in which the examiner feels the size or shape or firmness or location of something (of body parts when the examiner is a health professional). ... Percussion instruments are played by being struck, shaken, rubbed or scraped. ... Auscultation is the technical term for listening to the internal sounds of the body, usually using a stethoscope. ... Neurology is the branch of medicine that deals with the nervous system and disorders affecting it. ... Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics (BE: orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with acute, chronic, traumatic and recurrent injuries and other disorders of the locomotor system, its musclular and bone parts. ... In medicine, hypocalcaemia is the presence of less than a total calcium of 2. ...


With the clues obtained during the history and physical examination the doctor can now formulate a differential diagnosis, a list of potential causes of the symptoms. When this has happened, specific testing (or occasionally empirical therapy) generally confirms the cause, or sheds light on other, overlooked, causes. Differential diagnosis is the process by which a physician utiltizes the scientific method and the skills acquired in medical school, internship, and residency to take a history, examine the patient, and do the appropriate testing to determine the nature and extent of a disease process in a patient. ...


According to recent research, a systematic physical examination at regular intervals during hospital admission can change the ultimate diagnosis in >10% of all cases.


See also:


  Results from FactBites:
 
Clinical Breast Examination (1119 words)
A clinical breast examination is a physical examination of the breast done by a health professional.
Clinical breast examinations are used along with mammograms to screen women for breast cancer.
Tissue for examination in the laboratory may be collected with a needle (needle aspiration or core biopsy) or through a small incision (biopsy).
  More results at FactBites »

 

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