[The clinical diagnosis in medicine]

A physician's activity is not limited to, but does start at diagnosis. An accurate diagnosis requires collection of pertinent clinical information through history taking and physical examination and selection and organization of the observed symptoms to develop a diagnostic hypothesis to be confirmed or refuted. The prerequisites are adequate knowledge, a good patient-physician relationship and technical qualification. Learning to make a diagnosis is an individual endeavor. Teaching requires a good analysis of the diagnostic process and possible errors to design anatomoclinical conferences or diagnostic exercises. Experience can be transmitted directly; the 19th century clinical lessons are an excellent example. Progress in medical diagnosis is largely linked to advances in fundamental sciences and investigation techniques, but for the most difficult cases, clinical analysis remains the cornerstone of diagnosis.