Andrew M. Ball PT PhD
Posts: 855
Joined: July 28, 2002
From: Charlotte, NC
Status: offline
|
I've been asked by several PT's in recent weeks to go into some depth and detail as to what I mean by the terms "General Health Screening," "Review of Systems," and "Systems Review"
The General Health Screening that I use is woven into the subjective portion of my evaluation. I will generally ask the following questions:
Fatigue?
Malaise?
Weakness?
Chills/Sweats/Fever?
(Low-grade fever of 100 degrees or higher for 2 or more weeks are significant)
Unexplained Weight Loss/Gain (5% increase or decrease over a period of 4 weeks are significant)
Nausea?
Paresthesia/Numbness?
These questions alone won't tell us much, but cross-referenced with additional subjective information and objective findings, serve to raise and eye-brow regarding CONSIDERATION for possible need for referral such as (in order of likelihood in the PT department):
Fatigue:
Depression, Anxiety, Infection, Malignancy, Endocrine Disorders, Rheumatic Disorders, Heart Failure, Chronic Lung Disease, Chronic Liver Disease, Chronic Kidney Disease, Anemia, Nutritional Deficits, ADR’s, Electrolyte Imbalances
Malaise:
Systemic illnesses
Weakness:
Neurological Disorders
Endocrine Disorders
Muscular Injury/Disease
Rheumatic Disorders
Fever/Chills:
Occult Infection
Metastatic CA
Rheumatic Disorders
Unexplained wt gain/loss
Infection
Metastatic CA
Rheumatic Disorders
Depression
Endocrine Disorders
Nausea:
Infections
ADR’s
Gastrointestinal Disorders
Parathesia/Numbness:
Neurologic Disorders
Endocrine Disorders
Renal Disease
ADR’s
____________________________
The next step is to understand viceritome patterns, so as to know what organ systems to subjectively screen based upon presenting signs and symptoms.
_____________________________
Dr. Andrew M. Ball, PT, DPT, Ph.D.
|
Printable Version
General Health Screening - 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread