Page 31 - Community pharmcy practice E-book 2025

31/10/2025, 23:40 Community Pharmacy Practice - Course Materials

Comparison of mnemonics

All more comprehensive than WWHAM, BUT they still are limited.
None take into consideration all factors that might impinge on a differential diagnosis.

All fail to establish a full history from the patient in respect to lifestyle and social factors or the
relevance of a family history.

They are very much designed to establish the nature and severity of the presenting complaint.
This, in many instances, will be adequate but for intermittent conditions (e.g., irritable bowel
syndrome, asthma, hay fever) or conditions where a positive family history is important (e.g.,
psoriasis, eczema), they might well miss important information that reduces the chances of
gaining a correct diagnosis.

Use or Not?

Pro Cons

'decision aids' rigid, inflexible and often inappropriate.
Every patient is different (application?)
improve performance

Questioninig strategy

standardising information gained from
patients from and between pharmacists
and the wider pharmacy team

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