Organizing principle for differential diagnoses based on etiology:
  • Vascular – diseases caused by “vessel” (bleed or blocked) or anything related to hematology.
  • Infectious / Inflammatory
  • Traumatic / Toxic
  • Autoimmune or allergy
  • Metabolic
  • Iatrogenic / Idiopathic
  • Neoplastic
  • Social – diseases caused by “social” reasons
  • Alcohol – alcohol-related disorders.
  • Behavioral – behavioral or psychosomatic disorders
  • Congenital (the entire VITAMINSABCDEK could be applied as appropriate to tease out categories of congenital diseases)
  • Degenerative / Drug related
  • Endocrine or exocrine problems.
  • Karyotype or genetic disorders.

 

Note that this is a rendition of VINDICATED MEN mnemonic.

Further Reading

Adv Med Educ Pract. 2016; 7: 247–248. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4853007/

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