Is there any significance of carrying a physical examination in a patient, considering that the surgeon Ultimately relies on Radiological findings for confirming the diagnosis?
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Physical examination remains a cornerstone of clinical diagnosis. It guides the choice of radiological investigations and helps interpret them in context. Many subtle findings can be missed or misinterpreted without correlating them clinically
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Surgeons might rely on imaging to confirm stuff, sure, but if you can’t pick up basic signs on exam, you’re just blindly ordering tests. Plus, it shows the patient you actually care and not just staring at screens
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Physical examination in short navigates the professional to think in the direction for which the radiological test is concerned.
Eg: The physical examination of abdominal pain with Murphy sign can navigate it to MRI of abdomen to diagnose cholecystitis.
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A physical exam is still super important, even with scans. It gives initial clues, helps localize the problem, builds patient trust, and can guide which expensive radiological tests are actually needed. It’s the art complementing the science.
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A thorough physical exam has its own merits, even as we have become masters in practicing 'defensive medicine '.
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This is what most students feel nowadays that physical exam is not so important due to advancement in technologies and diagnostic procedures
But physical examination is as much important as oxygen for breathing
And every student/doctor should make out the basic signs in oder to reach appropriate differentials.
And a good doctor can even rule out these differentials by doing physical examination only
But many of them use radio imaging for ruling out differential diagnosis and confirming the diagnosis
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Physical examination provides vital clinical clues, guides initial diagnosis, and prioritizes investigations. It helps correlate radiological findings with symptoms, ensuring accurate, holistic patient assessment and preventing unnecessary or delayed interventions.
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Physical examination remains essential despite radiological advancements.
It provides clinical correlation and guides further investigations.
It’s a cost-effective, non-invasive initial assessment tool. Physical examination helps develop clinical judgment and decision-making skills.
It fosters patient-doctor interaction and trust. Surgeons use it to contextualize radiological findings. It’s a crucial part of comprehensive patient care.
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Physical examination is must in all the cases because without it you can’t reach the diagnosis… without physical examination how can you prescribe any radiological test to patients.
We can’t prescribe irrelevant tests to patients… being a doctor we have to think from patient side also.
Treatment should be cost effective also.
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We saw many of good old physician always do physical examination and will give their diagnosis without ordering this further investigations
But to minimise the error nowadays we rarely sees any physician taking this risk of not prescribing investigations