Dr. Desmond Releases New Informational Handbook

5/1/09

Our clinic director, Alan L. Desmond, Au.D. has recently completed his latest publication. Its’ title is Dizziness Reference Guide (DRG), and is published and available through Micromedical Technologies, Chatham, IL (www.micromedical.com) .The guide is designed for Primary Care Physicians, but it may be helpful to anyone suffering from dizziness or balance disorders as it has several informational patient handouts included.. Below is a description from the preface of the DRG

How to use the Dizziness Reference Guide (DRG)

The DRG is intended to be used as “quick access” to information when seeing a patient complaining of dizziness. There are many different sensations, with many different causes, that a patient may describe as “feeling dizzy.” The most common causes of dizziness are covered, but there are many causes of dizziness that are not covered in this guide. The goal of the DRG is to increase efficiency and accuracy, and minimize time spent gathering pertinent case history information and disseminating patient educational information. 

Page 2 condenses many “Typical Complaints” of various disorders causing dizziness, imbalance, and/or vertigo on a short, easy access list. This list is also displayed on the back cover of this guide. This can be kept by the practitioner’s side during the case history interview. As the patient relays their symptoms, the practitioner can flip to the appropriate page to assist in gathering additional relevant information. 

For each disorder there is a Practitioner Review Page and a Patient Education Page. The information on the Practitioner Review Page lists “Typical Complaints” associated with each disorder*. Since many patients do not provide a clear description of their symptoms, there are “Defining Questions” to extract more detailed information. “Medical History Questions” may provide a connection between the patient’s current complaints and a previously diagnosed medical condition. A short “Diagnosis/Definition” of the disorder is listed on each practitioner review page, followed by some “Management Options.” 

The Patient Education Page is designed as a patient handout. These are brief, informative, and written in non-medical terminology. The accompanying CD (optional) allows for any of the forms and patient handouts to be legally customized with individual logos, names, addresses, or text.