How to read about a disease ? a basic structured format to remember

 

HOW TO READ ABOUT A DISEASE

A medical student is very accustomed to reading about any medical condition (disease or disorder or syndrome) and after years of practice, they can read and understand about it in a faster way and also can retain that information in their memory easily as they try to gather it in a basic structured format. 


It is very common now-a-days for a non-medical person (also called general people) to read about certain medical conditions especially when he/she or any of their family members is diagnosed with any disease and their curiosity arises for the same.


If someone can remember a basic structured format, then it becomes much easier to retain the information under each category. 

Basic structured format 

(when reading or thinking about a medical condition)

 

  1. Other names of the condition

  2. Definition 

    • or introduction 

    • or category of the condition

  3. Epidemiology

    • Age group

    • Gender predilection

    • Geographical distribution

    • Importance of the condition 

  4. Etiopathogenesis

    • Etiological agent

    • Risk factors

    • Genetic influence

    • Flow chart of pathological process leading to clinical manifestations

  5. Clinical features

    • Systems involved 

    • Symptoms 

    • Signs 

    • Incubation period, secondary attack rate etc

  6. Complications

  7. Investigation

    • Blood tests 

    • Imagings 

    • Invasive tests (Endoscopy etc)

    • Microbiological tests 

    • Pathological (biopsy)

  8. Treatment

    • Medical treatment

    • Surgical treatment

    • Prophylaxis

  9. Prognosis

    • Survival rate

    • Recovery rate

Some relevant points to mention


  1. Very often, the clinical features and investigation findings are mentioned together in the books or articles for ease of better correlation. 


  1. The term ‘management’ includes both investigation & treatment


  1. Always read from authentic sources. There are many articles or blogs on the internet, many of them are written by non-medical persons and also, many youtubers from non-medical backgrounds, sometimes, provide incomplete information and also wrong information sometimes. Incomplete information is more dangerous than no information at all. So, first, ascertain the authenticity of the source of information and then only read the article. Some of such sources may be

    1. Standard medical textbooks

    2. Up-to-date

    3. Articles from ncbi or researchgate

    4. A professional blog from a doctor




For author information: 

Dr Sabyasachi,

 MD, Pediatrics, (AIIMS, Delhi)

MBBS (CNMCH, Kol)

mail: pedtalkdrsabya@gmail.com

youtube: Ped talk_Dr Sabya

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