The Review of Systems (ROS) is a process used to collect details about a patient's medical history. A complete ROS contains a list of all the patient’s current symptoms, their previous symptoms and other medical history. There are three types of ROS commonly used.
Clinicians often use the ROS as a screening tool for every patient. This is usually done when the patient has finished describing their symptoms. The clinician then asks follow up questions on additional symptoms that the patient may consider irrelevant. The other purpose of a screening ROS is to narrow down the symptoms of the patient. Many ailments have a similarity of symptoms, with only one or two symptoms being unique to one specific disease. Some of these diseases would be undiagnosed if it were not for the specific prompting from the clinician. The clinician then uses all the info to make an informed decision.
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An ROS may also be used to categorise certain risks. This includes diseases that are specific to gender, age group or certain other special categories. An example is the extra inquiry applied to a male patient who is over 50 years of age. Such a patient is more likely to be suffering from prostate cancer. His symptoms would be treated differently than if they were presented by a younger man in his mid 20's.
The third type of ROS is aimed at reducing mortality rate in the case of serious ailments. The detailed enquiry helps to distinguish between a fatal illness or a common ailment. An example is a patient suffering from severe chest pain. The ROS will help to determine whether it is a case of acute heartburn, or it is a pulmonary or cardiovascular issue. The first option may be a simple over the counter, outpatient issue while the second is likely to be a serious issue that may result in in patient care.
