What does "rule out " such and such disorder mean on a patient's chart written by the doctor?

Question

If a patients medical records say "She was admitted for evaluation of hemophilia" doctor (name left blank) evaluated the patient and diagnosed her with mood disorder, probably secondary to anemia, rule out psychiatric disorder, or depressive disorder.

I don't understand the "rule out" part, are they meaning to say that they plan on ruling this out, or that that they did rule it out.

What does the patient have in their opinion?

Answer 1

It means decide whether or not the diagnosis is true next.

Answer 2

ok i dont really understand your question, but ill try anyway. I think you're asking exactly what do they mean by rule something out. They're just useing the process of elimination. I don't think they would write"rule out <insert whatever here> on the chart

forgive me if i sound retarded and don't know what I'm talking about

Answer 3

In a physician's dictation, that often times means a psych consult will be requested just to make sure everything's okay upstairs.

Answer 4

If what you quote is what was written & it was written down correctly, then it has not already been RULED out (notice the D makes it past tense), instead, the doctor still has to have the patient tested so he can RULE out the other diagnoses once he gets the results of future tests.

Answer 5

Rule out means that you do not have what they ruled out. It does sound like you do a mood disorder with possible anemia. Hope that helps some.

Answer 6

When a client presents with several symptoms, there will be a likely diagnosis. However, there will also be several other possibilities, but they will not be as likely as the probable diagnosis.

For example, let's say I feel tired, bored, depressed. A doctor might write depression, r/o bipolar, anemia....

In this case, my symptoms seem most like depression, however other illnesses share these symptoms but are less likely either because they statistically don't occur very often or the symptoms are not as exact a match for these other illnesses as they are for the suspected illness.

You can go online and read detailed reports of all of the illnesses listed and see which one seems most like you. Sometimes you will see other symptoms that you forgot to mention to the doctor.

The doctor will observe you over time to see which illness you have. You may try medication for one illness and if it doesn't resolve the problem, that illness will be ruled out and another illness will be considered. Sometimes clients are subjected to testing which will rule out other illnesses. At the time of diagnosing, it isn't possible to determine the exact illness, so all possibilities are listed until there is enough evidence to eliminate some of them.

Answer 7

i would ask the doctor or his nurse what he meant.

it could mean he needs to rule it out or that he already has.

Answer 8

I'll give you a hypothetical scenario that could explain your question:

Jane Doe is a 16 year old female who was brought into the ER after threatening her mother at home with a knife. Her mother reports that Jane is normally very well behaved and mild mannered. Her mother states that her only past medical history is hemophilia.

In order to admit Jane to the hospital, the ER Dr. would have to give her an admitting diagnosis. Since this is abnormal behavior for Jane, the dr wants to admit her for observation and tests. So he gives her the diagnosis of mood disorder and he feels that it is most likely due to anemia (low iron) resulting from her hemophilia. But since there are other causes of mood disorder and to be on the safe side, the dr wants to rule out the possibilities that there could be something else wrong with Jane, not resulting from her hemophilia such as a psychiatric disorder or depressive disorder. He will most likely order a psych consult to have them come to Jane's room, evaluate her, and get their opinion. If the psychologist evaluates Jane and feels that she does not have psychiatric or depressive disorder and Jane's blood tests come back and show she is extremely anemic, then they have ruled out the other disorders and found that the original diagnosis of mood disorder secondary to anemia was the correct diagnosis. They may have to give Jane a couple of units of blood and/or send her home with a prescription for iron pills.

Answer 9

This is standard documentation form.

Translated, it means:

She was admitted for evaluation of hemophilia. [Dr. Doctor] has evaluated her and diagnosed her with mood disorder probably caused by losing too much blood and becoming anemic.  Other possible diagnoses that fit her symptoms are psychiatric disorder or depressive disorder.  These will NOT be considered UNLESS the diagnosis already determined ends up being erroneous.

The doctor thinks she has a mood disorder probably caused by loosing too much blood and becoming anemic.

Answer 10

Simplest way I know to explain it is this -  sometimes it is very clear what is wrong & what is causing it.  Other times it is not so clear.  In those situations, the doctor will develop a list of things that he or she thinks MAY be responsible for or contributing to the problem that you are coming in with.  These are the things that the doctor wants to "rule out".  One by one, each of these conditions will be evaluated (sometimes by tests such as lab work or x-rays, sometimes just by asking a lot of questions & putting the answers together to figure things out).  If it is decided that that the condition is NOT contributing to the problem, then it is "ruled out".  I hope that made sense.