Case taking begins right when…?
the patient enters the room.
Important factors in case taking (4)?
- observation skills
- Detailed history taking of the symptoms to ensure “complete symptoms”
- Physical examination: touch & check local symptoms (warmth, coldness, tenderness, perspiration etc)
- Identifying an emergency, making sure pts safety is the priority & referring them to emergency setting when necessary
The individualizing examinations of a case of disease demands… (4)?
- Impartiality
- Sound senses
- Attentive observation
- Faithfulness in recording disease picture
Objective symptoms (8)?
- Appearance
- Facial expression
- Discolouration
- Behaviour
- Reaction to conversation
- Partial heat/coldness/sweat
- Position of amelioration
- Gait
What do you find in subjective information?
Open ended questions
ex. What brings you to homeopathy?
What is the key in case taking?
Silence
- let pt speak uninterrupted & start asking questions when flow stops with more open ended questions
What is a characteristic symptom?
- the most striking, strange, unusual, peculiar, sign & symptoms
-the more intense a symptom, the more it tends to increase characteristic value
-the more a symptom reveals the core of an individual, tis innate nature or identity, the more characteristic
-if 2 equal in value, pick more recent one
What is complete symptom?
-obtain at least the SMILE of symptom
S: Sensations
M: Modalities
I: Intensity
L: Location
E: Etiology
How to rank symptoms?
by intensity and how’d deeply they reach organism
Do chronic or acute diseases have more severe, more intense & clear symptoms?
acute
In acute cases do you limit the inquiry to the acute state only?
Yes
What to do for chronic cases?
- go back as far as possible
-prescription is for totality of symptoms
-often most clear after acute cases has subsided
