Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine1.The four diagnostic methods to observe and diagnose diseasesThe four diagnostic methods, named inspection, auscultation and olfaction , inquiry, and pulse-taking and palpation, refer to the four basic procedures used in diagnosing a disease, They are the presuppositions of correct differentiation and effective treatment in TCM、 (1)Inspection is the first diagnostic procedure by which the physician may observe the patient's vitality, complexion, physical build, head, neck, five sense organs, skin, tongue, external genitalia and anus on purpose so as to understand the condition of a disease、And it is the outward sign of the conditions of qi and blood, yin and yang,or the zang-fu organs、 (2)Another diagnostic method is auscultation and olfaction 、 Auscultation means listening to the patient's voice, speaking, respiration, coughing and moaning、 (3) Inquiry、 This is a diagnostic method in which the patient or his companion are inquired to collect the information concerning a disease、 The content of inquiry includes the chief complaints, present case history past history, life history, family history, as well as age, sex, native place, occupation, address and so forth inquiry, though covering a wide range of topics, should be conducted step by step in a planned way, with questions focused on the chief complaint and the history of present disease、(4) Pulse-taking and Palpation 、 It is the fourth diagnostic method, including pulse-taking and, on the other, palpation of different parts of the body、 The former is a diagnostic procedure by which the physician may feel the patient's radial arteries with the finger-tips to judge pulse condition, thus learning a...
