Thai symptom index for patients in department of medicine.

ABSTRACT

A symptom indexing and coding was set up in Thai for use in Patient Statistical Report Unit in Department of Medicine. The index consisted of leading symptoms which patients complained to physicians at the Out-patient Department and In-patient Department. The symptoms are subcategorized into anatomical sites and in details wherever they applied to with simple-to-use criteria. The index was then used to relate symptom with final diagnosis using 3,124 in-patient charts review. By this method, frequency of each presenting symptom for a disease was shown and for a given leading symptom, how many diseases should be sorted. This index should be extended to cover various symptoms of patients who seeked medication from other departments. The index is anticipated to be beneficial for medical teaching and planning especially where problem-base-learning is applied, and for planning service and research.