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A Medical Guide to House

Saturday, September 30, 2006

An Introduction

So here's how this works. Each case is presented the way that it would appear if you were a medical student, intern, or resident working up the patient for the first time and had only the knowledge that was acquired prior to and during admission to the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. This portion includes the Chief Complaint, History of Present Illness, Past Medical History, Medications, Allergies, Social History, Family History, Physical Exam, and Labs/Imaging. The Medical Decision Making portion walks you through the medical decisions that were made throughout the episode, including diagnosis and management. The Differential Diagnoses section includes all the diagnoses that were suggested during the show, and who suggested them. If a diagnosis has already been suggested by one character, it is not credited to another if it is brought up again during the course of the same episode. The Commentary includes an explanation of how a medical student, intern, or resident would go about diagnosing and/or treating a patient who presented like the one described in that episode. Finally, the Conclusions section contains a quick overall summary of what's right, what's wrong, and why an "ordinary doctor" would or wouldn't have arrived at the proper diagnosis. Enjoy.

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