I’ve just marked a trainee’s portfolio work on ESR.
The erythrocyte sedimentation rate is quite possibly
the first blood test that was ever invented. You just suck some blood up a tube
and see how much it settles out in an hour. The more it settles, the more ill
the patient.
Professional blood testers laugh at it because it is
so non-specific. In these days of high-tech diagnostics, those who know about high-tech
diagnostics look down their nose at a test which is so non-specific.
However for a GP this is absolutely brilliant. With a
limited time to spend with the patient, the GP has to determine if the patient
is genuinely ill or malingering. The ESR tells him that. It don’t say what is
wrong with the patient, but in the first instance it don’t need to.
All the GP needs to know in the first instance is does
he need to spend more time with the patient, or can he tell them to clear off
with a clear conscience.
Here’s
a proper article about it.
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