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Medical Wisdom and Doctoring pp 73–105Cite as

The Art of Clinical Diagnosis

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Abstract

Recently I had lunch with some colleagues in the hospital cafeteria, and the discussion turned to teaching medical students. One of the physicians at the table, an internist, reported that rarely does he see a rectal examination described on a record of a hospital admission history and physical examination - and ours is a university teaching hospital! The surgeon then declared that the physical examination really isn’t important anymore, and that now diagnoses are made in the laboratory and by imaging. I heartily disagree, and I still hold that the best physicians maintain keen physical diagnosis skills, even in the face of slights by the Philistines.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Medicine School of Medicine, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR, USA

    Robert B. Taylor

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  1. Robert B. Taylor
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Correspondence to Robert B. Taylor .

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Taylor, R.B. (2010). The Art of Clinical Diagnosis. In: Medical Wisdom and Doctoring. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5521-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5521-0_4

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-5520-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-5521-0

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