IMPASSIVE DICTATING: A Mnemonic Acronym for Systematically Generating Differential Diagnoses
Maxwell Ho, Melissa Coloma,* Richard Ngo,* Jessica Santhakumar* School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Maxwell Ho, University of California, San Francisco...
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Dove Medical Press
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Advances in Medical Education and Practice |
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| author | Ho M Coloma M Ngo R Santhakumar J |
| author_facet | Ho M Coloma M Ngo R Santhakumar J |
| author_sort | Ho M |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Maxwell Ho, Melissa Coloma,* Richard Ngo,* Jessica Santhakumar* School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Maxwell Ho, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), 513 Parnassus Ave, Suite S221, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA, Tel +1 415 802 9984, Email maxwell.ho@ucsf.eduAbstract: Systematically generating differential diagnoses facilitates a clinician’s history, physical exam, and clinical evaluation. IMPASSIVE DICTATING is an acronym for pathophysiologies to consider in a differential diagnosis: immune reactions and dysregulation, metabolic, psychiatric, allergic, structural, social, infectious, vascular, endocrine/exocrine, degenerative, iatrogenic, congenital, traumatic, autoimmune, toxic, idiopathic, neoplastic, and genetic. We suggest that this mnemonic includes several improvements on previous pathophysiology-based acronyms and have informally validated this new mnemonic with two lists of common diseases. By emphasizing mechanisms of disease rather than clinical experience, IMPASSIVE DICTATING may be particularly useful in preclinical education, other teaching contexts, and complex patient presentations. We demonstrate the use of IMPASSIVE DICTATING with several common syndromes and underscore its utility and application compared to other methods of creating differential diagnoses.Plain Language Summary: To effectively evaluate patients, clinicians generate a list of potential diagnoses based on their patients’ presentations to rule in or out. A common approach is to use an acronym for disease mechanisms that may contribute to the patient’s condition. Due to the disadvantages of currently existing mnemonic acronyms, we propose a new acronym: IMPASSIVE DICTATING, standing for immune reactions and dysregulation, metabolic, psychiatric, allergic, structural, social, infectious, vascular, endocrine/exocrine, degenerative, iatrogenic, congenital, traumatic, autoimmune, toxic, idiopathic, neoplastic, and genetic. In this paper, we discuss the use and advantages of IMPASSIVE DICTATING in different contexts, such as medical education and complex patient presentations.Keywords: differential diagnosis, medical education, pathophysiology |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d1e8bf27814e4b289451e601e5173f9d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1179-7258 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Dove Medical Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Advances in Medical Education and Practice |
| spelling | doaj-art-d1e8bf27814e4b289451e601e5173f9d2025-01-27T18:05:33ZengDove Medical PressAdvances in Medical Education and Practice1179-72582025-01-01Volume 16798399617IMPASSIVE DICTATING: A Mnemonic Acronym for Systematically Generating Differential DiagnosesHo MColoma MNgo RSanthakumar JMaxwell Ho, Melissa Coloma,* Richard Ngo,* Jessica Santhakumar* School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA, USA*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Maxwell Ho, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), 513 Parnassus Ave, Suite S221, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA, Tel +1 415 802 9984, Email maxwell.ho@ucsf.eduAbstract: Systematically generating differential diagnoses facilitates a clinician’s history, physical exam, and clinical evaluation. IMPASSIVE DICTATING is an acronym for pathophysiologies to consider in a differential diagnosis: immune reactions and dysregulation, metabolic, psychiatric, allergic, structural, social, infectious, vascular, endocrine/exocrine, degenerative, iatrogenic, congenital, traumatic, autoimmune, toxic, idiopathic, neoplastic, and genetic. We suggest that this mnemonic includes several improvements on previous pathophysiology-based acronyms and have informally validated this new mnemonic with two lists of common diseases. By emphasizing mechanisms of disease rather than clinical experience, IMPASSIVE DICTATING may be particularly useful in preclinical education, other teaching contexts, and complex patient presentations. We demonstrate the use of IMPASSIVE DICTATING with several common syndromes and underscore its utility and application compared to other methods of creating differential diagnoses.Plain Language Summary: To effectively evaluate patients, clinicians generate a list of potential diagnoses based on their patients’ presentations to rule in or out. A common approach is to use an acronym for disease mechanisms that may contribute to the patient’s condition. Due to the disadvantages of currently existing mnemonic acronyms, we propose a new acronym: IMPASSIVE DICTATING, standing for immune reactions and dysregulation, metabolic, psychiatric, allergic, structural, social, infectious, vascular, endocrine/exocrine, degenerative, iatrogenic, congenital, traumatic, autoimmune, toxic, idiopathic, neoplastic, and genetic. In this paper, we discuss the use and advantages of IMPASSIVE DICTATING in different contexts, such as medical education and complex patient presentations.Keywords: differential diagnosis, medical education, pathophysiologyhttps://www.dovepress.com/impassive-dictating-a-mnemonic-acronym-for-systematically-generating-d-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-AMEPdifferential diagnosismedical educationpathophysiology |
| spellingShingle | Ho M Coloma M Ngo R Santhakumar J IMPASSIVE DICTATING: A Mnemonic Acronym for Systematically Generating Differential Diagnoses Advances in Medical Education and Practice differential diagnosis medical education pathophysiology |
| title | IMPASSIVE DICTATING: A Mnemonic Acronym for Systematically Generating Differential Diagnoses |
| title_full | IMPASSIVE DICTATING: A Mnemonic Acronym for Systematically Generating Differential Diagnoses |
| title_fullStr | IMPASSIVE DICTATING: A Mnemonic Acronym for Systematically Generating Differential Diagnoses |
| title_full_unstemmed | IMPASSIVE DICTATING: A Mnemonic Acronym for Systematically Generating Differential Diagnoses |
| title_short | IMPASSIVE DICTATING: A Mnemonic Acronym for Systematically Generating Differential Diagnoses |
| title_sort | impassive dictating a mnemonic acronym for systematically generating differential diagnoses |
| topic | differential diagnosis medical education pathophysiology |
| url | https://www.dovepress.com/impassive-dictating-a-mnemonic-acronym-for-systematically-generating-d-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-AMEP |
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