Focused Physical Exam

• What does O stand for OLDCARTS?

  Onset
• What does L stand for OLDCARTS?

  Location
• What does D stand for OLDCARTS?

  Duration
• What does C stand for OLDCARTS?

  Characteristics
• What does A stand for OLDCARTS?

  Aggravating Factors
• What does R stand for OLDCARTS?

  Relieving factors
• What does T stand for OLDCARTS?

  Timing (frequency)
• What does S stand for OLDCARTS?

  Severity of pain
• What else should be fleshed out when asking OLDCARTS?

  Potential associated symptoms, or other health occurrences that may be related to the problem.
• What is the pneumonic VINDICATE used for?

  VINDICATE is used to help diagnose the causes of a patient's symptoms.
• What does the V stand for in VINDICATE?

  Vascular
• What does the I stand for in VINDICATE?

  Infection or inflammation
• What does the N stand for in VINDICATE?

  Neoplasms
• What does the D stand for in VINDICATE?

  Drugs (toxins) or degeneratives
• What does the second I stand for in VINDICATE?

  Iatrogenic or idiopathic
• What does the C stand for in VINDICATE?

  Congenital, inherited, or developmental conditions
• What does the A stand for in VINDICATE?

  Autoimmune, allergy, or anatomic conditions
• What does the T stand for in VINDICATE?

  Trauma
• What does the E stand for in VINDICATE?

  ENdocrine or metabolic conditions, as well as environmental issues/work exposures.
• System 1 reasoning: relatively rapid and intuitive, pattern recognition between matching the patient’s presentation to an illness script or a prior example.
• System 2 reasoning: slower process using analytic approach.
• Possibilistic approach: Consider all known causes equally likely and simultaneously test for all of them.
• Probabilistic approach: Consider first those disorders that are more likely.
• Prognostic approach: Consider the most serious diagnoses first. 
• Pragmatic approach: Consider the diagnoses most responsive to treatment first