Diagnosis - Overview

The "art" of diagnosis is largely the ability to rank probabilities based on the incidences of likely diseases, and the chance of encountering given clinical features within each disease. The Diagnosis module allows you to indicate symptomatic findings and use these findings for making a diagnosis using GIDEON's database.

The Diagnosis tab includes the following sections:

• Select signs, symptoms and country by text and Diagnoses. See Diagnosis Search.
• Lists symptoms by specific categories. At the bottom of the page is an information area that displays brief explanations when mousing over the signs and symptoms. See Symptom Selection.
  • A (single click) displays a positive indication.
  • A (double click) displays a negative indication.
  • Note that appears when a sign or symptom is incompatible with one of those marked.
• Lists symptoms chosen in the Symptoms and Signs List.
  • Removes a selected symptom from the Clinical Summary list.
  • Clears all symptoms and signs and incubation period appearing in the Clinical Summary list.
  • saves a case.
  • opens a case.
• Disease acquired in...: This scroll box is used to display the country in which the patient acquired the disease.
  • displays country synonyms list.
  • See also Country of disease acquisition.
  • See also Bioterrorism simulator below.
• Incubation Period: Dates can be entered by typing in the dates, or using the calendar by clicking on . Three parameters display the time frame from the date of exposure, until the onset of the disease:
  • Onset of disease: Enter the date the disease first appeared.
  • Exposure began: Enter the date exposure began. The box to the right displays the number of days from the first date of exposure until the onset of the disease.
  • Exposure ended: Enter the date exposure ended. The box to the right displays the number of days from the last date of exposure until the onset of the disease.
• Searches the database and constructs a diagnosis based upon the selected symptoms, signs, incubation period and country of acquisition. See Diagnosis Results.
• Enter personal comments that will be retained as part of a specific patient's record. The notes can be modified or deleted. In addition, they appear in the report, if one is printed or emailed. See Personal notes.

Bioterrorism simulator

The Bioterrorism simulator is designed for diagnosis and informatics relevant to the military and paramilitary use of human Infectious Disease agents. You will note that '< Bioterrorism simulator >' is listed as a 'Country' in both the Diagnosis and Epidemiology modules. When clinical signs and symptoms are entered in the Diagnosis module, the resulting differential diagnosis list includes only diseases considered as potential agents of bioterrorism. Note that this list is not Bayesian; ie, all relevant diseases are assigned an equal 'incidence' when calculating probability. See BioTerrorism modules and BioTerror Indicator for more information.

Notes in the Epidemiology module stress the historical and epidemiological aspects of relevant diseases as they apply to bioterrorism. The Personal notes allow the user to list important contact information, literature, isolation and handling procedures, etc.