![]() Often, suggesting rare diseases will rarely prove right. atypical manifestation of a rare disorder.typical manifestation of a rare disorder.atypical manifestation of a common disorder.typical manifestation of a common disorder.Who does not remember university, where loads of students were (and constantly are) told "When you hear hoofbeats, look for horses, not zebras," which means look for the simplest, most common explanation first.Ī more useful approach may be to think of the probability of the diagnosis in general, with decreasing probability down the list: ![]() References 3 and 4 below nicely illustrate the tensions between Hickam's dictum and Occam's razor in modern medicine 3,4. By extension, it is often more sensible to consider any patient's clinical presentation as the result of a single condition rather than multiple concurrent diagnoses.īut, it is also important to not overlook Hickam's dictum, i.e. "patients can have as many diseases as they darn well please" this is especially germane in the modern healthcare setting in which multimorbidity is the rule rather than the exception. Although other, more complicated solutions may ultimately prove correct, in the absence of certainty the fewer assumptions made, the better. It states that among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. Occam's razor (also known as lex parsimoniae), an often cited principle of parsimony, economy, or succinctness used in problem-solving. It has also been expressed as the KISS principle or " Keep it simple stupid!".
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |