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Diagnosis in Korean Medicine-job of an artist
by Ko Byung Eun
(Grade 5, Senior Writer)
Diagnosis in a Korean medical clinic might give you a picture of a doctor taking the pulse of the patient in a room fluorescent with healthy-smelling herbs. Without any technical devices, the doctor seems to be "know-it-all", sometimes telling whether the patient is telling the true symptoms of him- or herself. This pulse-taking does actually consist a great portion in Korean medical diagnosis. However, other diagnostic methods are also important as much.
There are four major diagnostic methods in Korean Medicine.
| Visual Inspection |
Asking |
Listening |
Touching |
| visually examining the patient to catch clues from what the patient reveals through his or her external appearance. |
a process of history-taking, the flow of which is led by the patients' complaints and clues from the doctor's visual inspection |
taking all possible information that may be obtained by the doctors' ears, including any abnormal sounds in specific parts of the patient's body |
actually touching the patient's body for final check-up of signs and also symptoms the patient complains of |
The absence of technical devices is replaced by the doctor's touch of an artist. The four major diagnostic methods are processed simultaneously with one another, where information and clues from each step need to be combined for further diagnosis and prescription of acupuncture treatments and oral medication.
What always accompanies each step in Korean medical diagnosis is "辨證“, translated as "differentiation of syndromes". Symptoms the patient complains of is combined with signs taken by the doctor to consist a "syndrome". The way of expressions, degree of exaggerations, etc. may be all different in each patient. Since a number of symptoms in the patient's own words does not link him or her to a certain syndrome, there needs to be an artist's touch.
Here is a glimpse at how the artist adds the touch.
| Visual Inspection |
The "color" on the external appearance should be well examined. Not disguised by make-ups or colored foods(in examining the tongue), the artist sees through the inside. Flushed cheeks are red but the red does not exactly mean as red as crayon's red.
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Asking
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Asking the patient from head to toe is nonsense. The right question at the right moment in the right way may result in fruitful answers. Leading the patient to tell his or her bothering symptoms without any discomfort, the doctor needs to know where to let the patient go on or stop to make a turn. Quick adjustment to the style of speech of each patient is also important in better comprehension. Even very similar symptoms may result from totally different causes, so the doctor needs to be careful about generalizing all the similar cases.
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| Listening |
As sensitive as a musician, the doctor should also pay attention to all the information received through the ears. When the patient talks of his or her symptoms, the doctor should pay attention not only to the symptoms but the quality of the voice as well. Other than the voice or coughs, sometimes the patient may be unaware of or take as neglectful the sound his or her body makes which may be dangerous, so the doctor should be able to catch even sounds from an untold origin from the patient.
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| Touching |
Sensitivity on the fingertips are also important. In percussing the abdomen, sensitive fingertips know where exactly and in how deep the tenderness is positioned. Being able to detect the abnormal depression(not visually but only in careful touching) in specific parts of the body is also only possible by sensitive fingertips. Finding acupoints in each patient for acupuncture or moxibustion treatment also requires this dexterity.
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**Pulse-taking belongs under the fourth category of touching, and functions to verify the patient's symptoms. Bashful in talking about his or her own symptoms, the patient may intentionally degrade the severity of the symptoms or even omit some important symptoms. Perceiving how much the patient is telling the truth about the symptoms and how much the doctor him- or herself should find out for verification is also an artist's field.
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