Golden Rulesof Medicine

During my residency more than 20 years ago, Dr Theodore Fraker^a taught me these 2 diagnostic principles, and I will rely on them as long as I practice medicine:

• Common diagnoses are common, and uncommon diagnoses are uncommon.

• Uncommon presentations of common diagnoses are far more common than uncommon diagnoses.

-- James Justice, MD
Cedar Rapids, Iowa

^a Dr Fraker is still both practicing and teaching; currently, he is professor of internal medicine at Ohio State University College of Medicine.

 

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