In the Chinese medical examination, the way of finding the proper diagnosis of the patient is very peculiar and complicated.

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Practitioners do not use any kind of machines to examine their patients. Doctors only use a physical examination, which is based in 4 phases (Ody 72).

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1. Observation:

Observation is the principal phase of the physical examination. In this phase, the doctor of traditional Chinese medicine studies the aspect of the patient’s posture, body, face, skin, tongue, eyes. This gives doctors a general idea of the patient’s condition in order to start making some deductions. For example, a red tongue, especially in the back part, could mean a deficiency of Qi in the kidney (University of California Television 2008).

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2. Auscultation/Olfaction:

This is the phase where doctors must be very attentive. From the moment, his or her patient arrives the doctor has to pay attention to the sound of his or her patient’s voice as well as his/her smell. These aspects give the doctors important details about the patient’s health. For example, the person's way of speaking is related to the heart, thus when a patient has difficulties when speaking it could mean that the patients could have complications with his or heart (University of California Television 2008).

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3. Interrogation:

In this phase, there is the traditional routine called “ten questions.” The doctor has to (based on his or her previous interpretations) ask 10 questions to his or her patient. The objective is to know specifically the symptoms of the patient, the medical history, and the patient’s lifestyle (Ody 77).

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4. Palpitation/pulse:

In this phase, doctors get to know the state of an organ by palpitating it across the skin. Doctors usually palpitate the abdomen or limbs. Also, a very important part of this phase is when the doctor takes your radial pulse (which is on the wrist). The radial pulse has different positions, and each position relates with a specific meridian and/or organ. Thus, the radial pulse (depending on its position) can tell the state of an organ or the state of your Qi. It is very complicated to feel the right position and to say the correct diagnosis. That’s why doctors have to be well prepared (Ody 77).

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After doing all these phases the doctor has to put all the information together. A simple error could damage the whole diagnosis leading to an incorrect treatment. Hence, doctors have to be very careful, notice every single detail of his or her patient, and to discard irrelevant information (University of California Television 2008).