ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION After taking a history, completing an examination, and writing up your fi ndings, you will need to give some thought as to the cause of your patient’s symptoms. A diagnosis is the most rational explanation for the symptoms and signs that your patient has. It may be immediately obvious – the thunderclap headache of a subarachnoid haemorrhage, the facial droop and unilateral weakness of a stroke, or a knife still sticking out of the chest wall.
