Dizziness: how do patients describe dizziness and how do emergency physicians use these descriptions for diagnosis?

摘要

Physicians are taught repeatedly throughout their training that the clinical history is the single most important source of information on which to build a diagnosis. However, few studies systematically analyze the utility of aspects of history taking and of the reliability of patient descriptions. The importance of this issue cannot be overemphasized because symptoms are why patients visit physicians. New or serious symptoms often drive patients to overcrowded emergency departments (EDs). Feelings of dizziness, vertigo, and imbalance can be extremely unpleasant and frightening, especially if they occur suddenly. We all derive security from the feeling that terra firma is firmly placed beneath us, and when we think it is not we often panic. Dizziness and vertigo are among the most common symptoms of patients who come to EDs and physicians offices. In this edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2 systematic studies address (1) how well patients describe dizziness in the ED and (2) how physicians use these descriptions to formulate diagnoses.