There’s an adage known to every medical student, intern, resident, and practicing physician. When you hear hoofbeats behind you, don't expect to see a zebra. This quote has been paraphrased into several iterations, but the quote is credited to Dr. Thomas Woodward in 1940. Dr. Woodward, a wise medical professor and Nobel Prize nominee, offered his advice to medical interns. The aphorism has timeless value. The point is for physicians to exhaust common explanations when confronting medical clues before broadening the exercise to contemplate rare potential diagnoses. It is more likely that hoofbeats are made by a common horse than a more exotic hoofed beast. Get it? Let me offer a brilliant quote. Common things occur commonly. If a patient sees his physician to evaluate a fever, it’s unlikely that the doctor will entertain malaria as a diagnostic consideration, even though fever is a hallmark of malaria. Seasoned clinicians will widen their diagnostic view when
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