What Are Pertinent Negatives and Positives

Pertinent positives, which are disease-specific and can be learned by rote, are used to “rule in” a particular diagnosis. Pertinent negatives, which require more analytical and creative thinking, are gleaned from the differential diagnosis and function to “rule out” other diagnostic possibilities.

What is a pertinent negative examples?

Pertinent negatives point away from associated complications (“He denied shortness of breath”) and rule out other diagnoses (“He denied headache, neck stiffness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dysuria, and rash”).

What are positive and negative findings medicine?

Positive means that whatever the test was looking for was found. Negative means that whatever the test was looking for was not found.