We could say that physicians _infer_ diagnostic hypotheses based on - knowledge of the tentative underlying disease, - the patients subjective experiences - phenomena registered in the patients body
Phrases such as "cannot be exluded" might be due to", "probably", "definitely", "beyond doubt" are statements of probability of the inferrence being correct (and what to do next). Can one say that diagnoses belong to the class of statements whereas the disease itself belong to the class of natural phenomena? The diagnosis establishes a relation between the subjective experiences / phenomena and the disease that induces those symptoms and findings. Example: Experiences and phenomena: Pain in the wrist joints, feeling of joint stiffness, joint tenderness, joint swelling, elevated sedimentation rate. Diagnostic inferrence: Rheumatoid arthritis. Relation: Might be induced by/due to Can statements of probability be considered statements regarding the strength of these relations?? Comments on this? regards, Arild Faxvaag - If you have any questions about using this list, please send a message to d.lloyd at openehr.org
