[Basic] Skill of the week: Diagnosis

[Flyndaran]

While I've heard that 80% of all health problems fix themselves on their own. Mysterious symptom? Wait a couple of weeks and it'll likely get better regardless.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

While I've heard that 80% of all health problems fix themselves on their own. Mysterious symptom? Wait a couple of weeks and it'll likely get better regardless.

Unfortunately "turn the system off and reboot" isn't an option.

[Not]

Presumably on the Serengeti they have the opposite aphorism.

Funny thing about diagnosis: it's locally defined. Cross a border and your disease isn't recognized by the medical community as real.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Unfortunately "turn the system off and reboot" isn't an option.

Ha.
For minor psych issues, sleep can kind of work like that. At least it does for me.

[D10]

Originally Posted by ErhnamDJ

It seems to me that we have three distinct medical tasks being performed here: diagnosis of the problem, deciding what treatment is appropriate, and the carrying out of the treatment.

What I have done with these skills in my house rules is remove all but three of the skills. I keep Diagnosis, which does the first part there; Physician, which does the second part (determining what course of treatment the patient should take); and Surgery, which is the skill used for carrying out a large subset of the treatments.

I do have Physician pulling double-duty here, since it is used to carry out non-surgical treatments as well. Perhaps there is room for a fourth skill there.

I have always thought that diagnosis is the single most important medical skill, its what will tell you whether how to proceed. Therefore I would not give the physician skill the same power to detect and decide the course of treatment, instead I make diagnosis the main skill for detection and decision, with skills such as Herb Lore, Physician, Surgery, and etc.. serving as complementary skills that expand the scope of possible diagnostics and prognostics.

After all, up until this point, giving a psychopathological diagnosis is basically a question of practical knowledge as the neuro-imaging tests that allow for better and more accurate diagnosis are still on testing. So psychologists and psychiatrists have to rely on observation and knowledge of the subject, more than lab tests, even today.

[Flyndaran]

I tend to believe that psychology is at least a century behind other forms of medical studies due to stigmas and bigotries.
No one calls broken bones moral failures, for example. Gun shot wounds aren't caused by poor diets and bad habits.

[Gedrin]

IMC, Diagnosis usually is used for one of three purposes:

1: Identification of non-obvious ailments. Without proper diagnosis, the Physician may only treat symptoms. This may help, and even save a life, but the level of care provided is reduced.

2: Improve the treatment of obvious ailments. If your adventurer has "stabbing syndrome" or other such, diagnosis can identify the complications that need attention, granting +2 on the treatment skill.

3: Related to 1, Diagnosis often identifies if something is the domain of mundane medicine. Mystic afflictions (curses ect) can cause physical symptoms, but not be the domain of mundane medicine. I allow Diagnosis to identify what sort of other expert is needed.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Gedrin

I...
3: Related to 1, Diagnosis often identifies if something is the domain of mundane medicine. Mystic afflictions (curses ect) can cause physical symptoms, but not be the domain of mundane medicine. I allow Diagnosis to identify what sort of other expert is needed.

I've found that claiming some problem is psychological is more from laziness and/or a failure of Diagnosis.

[Zeta Blaze]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I've found that claiming some problem is psychological is more from laziness and/or a failure of Diagnosis.

I think this is more for the case where non mundane problems are real and common as well as the mundane psychosomatic illness. Which is a real phenomenon if only in exacerbating or persisting real symptoms.
Clearly this use case is highly curtailed in any setting where magic is non existent or very rare. Though it may be common in a universe with common but subtle magic.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Zeta Blaze

I think this is more for the case where non mundane problems are real and common as well as the mundane psychosomatic illness. Which is a real phenomenon if only in exacerbating or persisting real symptoms.
Clearly this use case is highly curtailed in any setting where magic is non existent or very rare. Though it may be common in a universe with common but subtle magic.

Nice idea. In the real world Munchausen syndrome and hypochondriasis exist, but they're damn rare. Maybe similar wrong diagnoses from those in magic setting just with low level curses and bad luck incidents.