A patient "presents at a hospital" ...
matthew...@hotmail.com
presents at hospital with [symptom]" often enough that it's obviously
an actively used expression in the medical sphere. To non-medical eyes,
though, the "presents" in place of "arrives" is jarring.
Is there a subtlety I'm missing in the use of "presents" that makes
this more accurate or different than "arrives" in some significant way?
Or is this just pointless medibabble that's different for the sake of
sounding "medical?"
Jim Lawton
It has this other meaning :-
"offer for observation, examination, or consideration"
The patient usual "presents with symptoms" or "the disease presents no
symptoms in the first few weeks". I think your usage is just an
extension of that. Certainly the "presents" isn't meant to be a synonym
for arrives.
--
Jim
a Yorkshire polymoth
Tony Cooper
I don't know what other word might be better, but "presents" is
certainly different from "arrives". The patient arrives at the
hospital just the once. During the resulting stay, the patient is
examined and tested and this is when the symptoms are noted.
Some symptoms may develop long after the patient arrives at the
hospital.
It would seem that "presents" is being used to eliminate the time-line
connection.
--
Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL
Harvey Van Sickle
I'm not entirely clear of the usage you're describing -- this may
just be repeating what you said. (Not sure.)
I understand the technical use of "presents" in medical circles to
mean "exhibits symptoms" -- that is, one can be sent to (and
therefore arrive at) hospital precisely because one presents with a
certain medical condition. (Collins gives the example of "she
presented with postnatal depression".))
--
Cheers, Harvey
Canadian (30 years) and British (23 years)
For e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van
Tony Cooper
I'm not quite sure I understood the question. It seems to me that the
OP is asking which of the following two is best:
"A patient presents at hospital with [symptom]"
or
"A patient arrives at hospital with [symptom]"
If so, then my answer applies.
John O'Flaherty
The usage 'with [symptom]' is intransitive.
M-W gives a specific definition for this acceptation:
(intransitive) 3 : to come forward as a patient
So it does seem to be a sort of jargon for 'arrive', from the
perspective of the doctor, wherever they are located.
--
john
Harvey Van Sickle
Ah; I see. I hadn't thought of it in terms of a one-point-in-time
arrival -- as opposed to "presenting", which can happen either upon
arrival or at a later stage -- but that's a good way of explaining
the difference.
matthew...@hotmail.com
John O'Flaherty wrote:
> matthew...@hotmail.com wrote:
> > Working with medical material, I have run across the phrase "a patient
> > presents at hospital with [symptom]" often enough that it's obviously
> > an actively used expression in the medical sphere. To non-medical eyes,
> > though, the "presents" in place of "arrives" is jarring.
> >
>
> The usage 'with [symptom]' is intransitive.
>
> M-W gives a specific definition for this acceptation:
> (intransitive) 3 : to come forward as a patient
>
> So it does seem to be a sort of jargon for 'arrive', from the
> perspective of the doctor, wherever they are located.
>
all!
Tony Cooper
<harve...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
Anyone who has gone to a hospital's Emergency Room for treatment knows
that symptoms short of gushing blood may not be noted for hours after
arrival.
Liz
I think the 'presents' here means: 'appears'.
A verb referring to events or states that exist at the moment.
To come before a doctor or nurse, as with a medical
problem or condition.
Whenever you are confused about the meanings
of a word or phrase, and your dictionary doesn't help.
Give "answers.com" a try.
http://www.answers.com/main/reference.jsp
Steve Hayes
It's like addresses without the pronoun.
The patient presents [himself] with such and such a symptom...
The speaker addresses [himself to] such and such a problem...
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
Paul Wolff
<l...@where.abouts> writes
><matthew...@hotmail.com> wrote
>> Working with medical material, I have run across the phrase "a patient
>> presents at hospital with [symptom]" often enough that it's obviously
>> an actively used expression in the medical sphere. To non-medical eyes,
>> though, the "presents" in place of "arrives" is jarring.
>>
>> Is there a subtlety I'm missing in the use of "presents" that makes
>> this more accurate or different than "arrives" in some significant way?
>> Or is this just pointless medibabble that's different for the sake of
>> sounding "medical?"
>
>I think the 'presents' here means: 'appears'.
>A verb referring to events or states that exist at the moment.
>
>To come before a doctor or nurse, as with a medical
>problem or condition.
>
have transitive parallels, too.
--
Paul
In bocca al Lupo!
Steve Hayes
wrote:
>>To come before a doctor or nurse, as with a medical
>>problem or condition.
>>
>"Presents" maps pretty well to "shows" as an informal alternative. They
>have transitive parallels, too.
Yes, but the confusing thing is the preposition "with". That's what makes it
medical jargon rather than normal English.
If you take away the preposition you can guarantee that the medics will start
using "evinces". "Shows" isn't nearly posh enough.
Which reminds me of a socialogist whose MS I edited, who wanted to use
"evinces", but couldn't remember the word, so used "elicits" instead. I'm not
sure whether it was a malapropism or an eggcorn, but I changed it to "shows",
and the author was annoyed at me for destroying the mystique of the thing.
Don Phillipson
news:1138372011.8...@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Working with medical material, I have run across the phrase "a patient
> presents at hospital with [symptom]" . . .
> Is there a subtlety I'm missing in the use of "presents" that makes
> this more accurate or different than "arrives" in some significant way?
No, the purpose of this jargon is the reverse. It means the patient
either described or displayed symptoms of XYZ, and no more than
that. Thus whatever report includes this phrase:
-- it does not report the patient said he had XYZ disease,
-- it does not say the doctor(s) diagnosed XYZ disease,
because either of those might later turn out to be erroneous.
So "presented with . . . " simply records what the patient talked
about or exhibited, and what the doctors first thought, without
committing the medical institution to any particular diagnosis.
(Disclaimer: last March I presented with ABC, and had surgery
in September where ABC was not found: and there was no
scientific name for the necrotic mess they actually spooned out. . . )
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)