Chief complaint
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The Chief Complaint (CC), or termed Presenting Complaint (PC) in the UK, is a concise statement describing the symptom, problem, condition, diagnosis, physician recommended return, or other factor that is the reason for a medical encounter[1]. The patient's initial comments to a physician, nurse, or other health care professional help form the differential diagnosis.
In some instances, the nature of a patient's chief complaint may determine whether or not services are covered by medical or vision insurance.[1]
Medical students are advised to use open-ended questions in order to obtain the presenting complaint.[1]
Prevalence
The collection of chief complaint data may be useful in addressing public health issues.[1] Certain complaints are more common in certain settings and among certain populations. Fatigue has been reported as one of the ten most common reasons for seeing a physician.[1] In acute care settings, such as emergency rooms, reports of chest pain are among the most common chief complaints.[1] The most common complaint in ERs has been reported to be abdominal pain.[1] Among nursing home residents seeking treatment at ERs, respiratory symptoms, altered mental status, gastrointestinal symptoms, and falls are the most commonly reported.[1]
References
See also
External links
- MedEd at Loyola ipm/comphx1/sld003.htm
- Chief+complaint at eMedicine Dictionary
- c_49/12252278 at Dorland's Medical Dictionary
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
