Effective Problem Listing

What is a problem:

Any of the following:

• A medical diagnosis e.g. Myocardial infarction
• A medical condition e.g. Systolic heart failure
• A syndrome e.g. Delirium
• An undiagnosed physical symptom e.g. dyspnoea
• A biochemical syndrome e.g. metabolic acidoses
• An abnormal investigation e.g. low bicarbonate, left lower lobe opacity
• A psychiatric diagnosis e.g. Schizophrenia
• A psychiatric syndrome e.g. Acute psychosis
•  An undiagnosed psychiatric symptom e.g. Hallucinations
• A difficult social situation e.g. lack of accommodation, domestic violence, single parent

Ways of ordering your problem list

• Which problem(s) most impact on the patient's level of function?
• Which problem(s) needs to be addressed urgently?
• Which problem(s) is currently active?
• Which problem(s) is most recent?

A problem list should:

• Emphasize the major issues
• Provide maximum information with minimum effort
• Give information about aetiology and severity/complications e.g. not 'asthma' - but 'moderately severe asthma secondary to viral URTI with hypoxia on room air'