Page 5 - Problem-Based Feline Medicine

20 – THE CAT WITH ENLARGED LYMPH NODESONTENTS xixi
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Preface

Problem-based feline medicine was inspired by teach- the signs are not organ-specific, and to help them
ing students in the clinic, and from consulting to walk through the thought processes, they were first
veterinarians in practice. It was apparent that the encouraged to answer the question “What mecha-
way veterinary medicine was traditionally taught nisms can be responsible for these signs?” Hence the
often caused problems when the students were in first section in the summary table and introduction
the clinic. Many times they did very well in written answers the questions: “What mechanism/s causes
examinations, but could not utilize the material this problem?” (MECHANISM?), “Which organs or
taught to make a diagnosis in the clinic. Traditional body systems cause this problem?” (WHERE?),
disease-based text books, divided into sections based “What diseases/s cause this problem?” (WHAT?)
on aetiology, assumed the clinician knew whether The format for each chapter is the same. The chap-
the disease was viral or bacterial, fungal or metabol- ter title is based on a presenting sign. A summary
ic. Clients usually do not say “my cat has feline page lists the answers to “MECHANISM?”,
leukaemia and what is the most appropriate treat- “WHERE?”, and “WHAT?” This is followed by a quick
ment”. They say “my cat is losing weight and is not reference guide to the diseases that should be consid-
as active as normal”. The dilemma for students is, ered as potential rule-outs. They are starred with 0-3
which page of a text-book do I to turn to? Making a stars to indicate how important the disease is as a
diagnosis is the most important part of being a vet- cause of the problem. Some diseases are common but
erinarian, because without a diagnosis, determin- rarely cause the sign (problem), and they did not get
ing appropriate treatment is problematic.
My hope is that this book will support students
and veterinarians in practice, and assist them in
turning to the “right page” for the information they
need to make a diagnosis. A challenge in writing a
book like this, is the duplication of material, and dif-
ferences between authors when writing about the
same disease in different chapters. I think this con-
tributes to the richness of information in the book,
and reflects that life it is not black and white, and
there are different opinions based on different expe-
riences.
One difficulty students had using the acronym
DAMNPIT, was that in formulating a list of likely
diseases causing the problem, they often omitted
obvious diseases. When they first listed the organs
or body systems that could cause the signs, and
then used DAMNPIT, it increased their score rate.
Sometimes the organ system is not evident when

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