Summary of Lisa Sanders's Every Patient Tells a Story

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The young woman, Maria, had been perfectly healthy until just after last Christmas. She’d come home from college to see her family and friends, and as she prepared to head back to school, she began to feel queasy. She couldn’t eat or drink anything, and the slightest odor made her feel like she was going to vomit.

#2 The only time she felt normal during these attacks was when she was standing in a hot shower. She had no other medical problems, took no medicines, and had never been exposed to any toxins.

#3 The patient’s story is one of the most reliable ways to make a diagnosis. It is often the first clue that doctors look at when making a diagnosis, and it is important information that helps guide the patient’s treatment.

#4 Getting a good history from the patient is important for making an accurate diagnosis. The doctor must understand and accept the patient’s story, which may not match the doctor’s assumptions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822530362

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Insights on Lisa Sanders's Every Patient Tells a Story

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The young woman, Maria, had been perfectly healthy until just after last Christmas. She’d come home from college to see her family and friends, and as she prepared to head back to school, she began to feel queasy. She couldn’t eat or drink anything, and the slightest odor made her feel like she was going to vomit.

#2

The only time she felt normal during these attacks was when she was standing in a hot shower. She had no other medical problems, took no medicines, and had never been exposed to any toxins.

#3

The patient’s story is one of the most reliable ways to make a diagnosis. It is often the first clue that doctors look at when making a diagnosis, and it is important information that helps guide the patient’s treatment.

#4

Getting a good history from the patient is important for making an accurate diagnosis. The doctor must understand and accept the patient’s story, which may not match the doctor’s assumptions.

#5

Doctors often rely on a few highly focused questions to extract the information they think will help them make a diagnosis quickly. However, this effort to reduce the time it takes to get a good history increases the risk of miscommunication and missed information.

#6

The social meaning of symptoms can complicate a simple diagnosis. I once saw a patient who was too embarrassed to offer another history: her boyfriend had had a breakout of genital herpes on a vacation they’d taken together, and she hadn’t insisted on his use of a condom.

#7

The mystery of the cyclic vomiting episodes that Maria Rogers was experiencing was solved when Hsia realized that she had to get a key piece of history from the patient that others had overlooked.

#8

The young doctor figured out that Maria Rogers’s nausea was caused by cannabinoid hyperemesis, a condition first described in 1996. The disorder