Angina pectoris: words patients use and overlooked precipitating events
Heart Disease and Stroke : a Journal for Primary Care Physicians
|March 1, 1993
Abstract:
Routine questioning may be inadequate to identify angina pectoris or prolonged discomfort due to myocardial ischemia. The clinician must ask patients if they have had any unpleasant sensations in the chest, neck, throat, jaw, arms, elbow, wrist, or back that they have not noticed previously. Once the patient uses a word to describe the discomfort, the physician should use the same word and inquire about the duration of the discomfort and precipitating causes, including the less common and unusual ones discussed in this editorial.
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