symptom
Let an agent help people describe symptoms clearly, recognise when symptoms need urgent or routine care, explain what symptoms may mean in general terms, and avoid diagnosis.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
Let an agent help people describe symptoms clearly, recognise when symptoms need urgent or routine care, explain what symptoms may mean in general terms, and avoid diagnosis.
A subjective experience or change reported by a person that indicates a possible disease or condition, such as pain, fatigue or nausea, as distinct from a sign, which is observed by others; symptoms are gathered in medical history taking, assessed by clinicians and used with signs and tests to reach diagnoses.
What it is for: Recognising and communicating health problems.
It can be help describe a symptom clearly; recognise red flag symptoms; explain common causes in general terms; prepare for a consultation.
Distinguishing features
Subjective experience
Indicates possible condition
Gathered in history taking
Not itself a diagnosis
What it looks like
Not physical; experiences reported by a person.
How it is recognised
Reported by the patient
Subjective
A sign is observed by a clinician
Related models
is a kind of - category
is a kind of - category
is assessed by - services
is related to - aetiology
In practice
Families and kinds
pain symptoms
systemic symptoms such as fatigue and fever
organ-specific symptoms
mental health symptoms
red flag symptoms
Standards and regulation
Clinical guidelines on symptom assessment and triage
Rules on symptom checker tools as medical devices
Failure modes and hazards
Agents diagnosing
Missing red flags
Anxiety from symptom searching
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Also registered as vr.tr.symptom
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.
Urgent Red flags.
Safety first.
Red flags
Emergency symptoms.
Red flags
Red flags.
- Does the symptom pattern include red flags such as chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or severe bleeding? boundary
- Should emergency services be contacted now? action
Triage
Level of care.
Triage
Triage.
- Which level of care does official triage guidance suggest for these symptoms? provenance
- Is the user asking for a diagnosis? boundary
Describe Communicating symptoms.
Clear description helps.
Characterise
Describing a symptom.
Characterise
Describing.
- How can the symptom be described by onset, location, character, duration, triggers and severity? action
- Which associated symptoms matter? action
Prepare
Consultation preparation.
Prepare
Preparation.
- What should be noted before a consultation, such as timeline and medications? action
- Which questions should be asked? action
Understand Possible meanings.
General information only.
Causes
Common causes.
Causes
Causes.
- What are common causes of this symptom, according to health sources, without diagnosing? provenance
- Which factors change the likely causes? boundary
Signs
Symptoms versus signs.
Signs
Signs.
- How do symptoms differ from signs and test results? definition
- How do clinicians combine them? definition
Wellbeing Living with symptoms.
Support.
Chronic
Chronic symptoms.
Chronic
Chronic symptoms.
- Which support exists for managing chronic symptoms such as pain or fatigue? provenance
- Which patient organisations help? provenance
Anxiety
Health anxiety.
Anxiety
Health anxiety.
- Is symptom searching causing distress? boundary
- Where can support for health anxiety be found? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- Should common symptoms be separate entries?
- How should triage guidance be localised?
- How should symptom checkers be regulated?