- Expanding my differential for a case I’m currently treating
CPC contains a wide variety of rare diseases as well as rare presentations of common diseases. As I’m building a differential for a case I’ve just seen in the hospital, I have enjoyed typing the salient symptoms into the app to figure out what are some of the more esoteric things I should make sure I should be including when a patient presents similarly.
- Synergistic learning
The CPC isn’t just a final diagnosis, it’s a discussion about a particular presentation. I’ve frequently used the app to find cases that presented with symptoms similar to my own and read that case to learn how Master diagnosticians think about and create differentials for that case. It also helps me put some “meat” on each case I take care of in the hospital by associating it with a rich diagnosis and discussion taking from a similar CPC.
- Targeted learning
When I want to teach as a senior resident, or even when I want to learn myself, I can use it to create a cluster of similarly presenting cases and use the discussions to create learning content for my team by highlighting the similarities and differences between each case in a group and how that can help you distinguish disease processes.
- Going fishing
Sometimes I just have no idea what is going on with my patient, and their constellation of symptoms does not fit in any of my inbuilt schemas. I’ve enjoyed using the symptom app to see if a case in the NEJM presented similarly and if it could be a possible solution to my quandary. It’s even worked a couple of times