Advice with vignettes: how to make a dx?

[1nycdoc8]

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Hello everyone, I've been noticing that one of the hardest things for me to tackle while doing practice questions is being able to read a list of signs and symptoms mentioned and then putting together a differential and then being confident about what the diagnosis is.

I guess this is one of the major challenges in being a good physician, so it's something I want to work on now, but in terms of studying for step 1 (I am taking the exam mid-July), I was wondering if you guys could give me some tips on how you all work through a case.

This test must've been a breeze when they used to use "buzz words," I can't even imagine what it was like back then.

 

[username456789]

One of the better pieces of advice I've received (but someone else feel free to tell me if it's wrong) is that they don't put information in there that isn't relevant.

In other words, if they mention something, it's for a reason. If they mention that the patient has cancer, you can be pretty sure there's probably some sort of decreased immunity that's to blame for whatever's going on. The patient just returned from a trip overseas? Be thinking about endemic pathogens.

This might be useless advice, but it's a good jumping off point, I think.

 

[kryptik]

age, sex, race if given to you are also helpful in ruling in/out

 

[1nycdoc8]

Thanks guys, I've also found that making my own algorithms can be particularly helpful, especially for heme. Do you know of any sources that have these already? thanks, I'll go try to find some right now

 

[Stark]

Try Underground Clinical Vignettes (UCV), 2007. I used them and found them very helpful.