The Carolina Medical Journal (Volume 17-18) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: NOTE TAKING. Systematic note taking is very largely neglected by physicians and knowing this fact, and realizing how great an amount of valuable experience is thus lost to the profession, we deem it proper to urge upon the profession the propriety of undertaking systematic note taking as a new resolution for the year 1886. The advantage of note taking is two-fold. It not only makes record of facts witnessed while they are fresh, and thus give them more value, but it also imparts to the observer more accuracy in his habits at the bed-side. Doubtless many practitioners are learning over and over again the same old lessons of things to lu avoided, of errors to be corrected, by trusting to slovenly memories, being actually detected by their patients and reminded by them in not very pleasant ways before they come to the point of correcting them. As far as we have observed physicians in their method of practice, there is but little danger that many of them will ever be imitators of Louis in his numerical methods, or become dry statisticians by reason of their adherence to facts and figures. A system of note taking is now easier to begin than ever before. Every well equipped doctor in his daily rounds carries to the bedside a clinical thermometer and a urinary test case. Blank slips ruled for temperature, pulse-rate, and all other items of clinical importance may be had in blocks conveniently bound for carrying in the pocket, and everything is done to tempt the sloven and lazy doctor to record his cases with the least amount of clericrl work. Of course what we have said does not apply to the doctor who has not learned to rely upon thermometric observations of his patients, and necessary critical examination of secretions, for such there is but little hope of clinical accuracy...