What Is Differential Diagnosis Process
In medicine a differential diagnosis is the distinguishing of a particular disease or condition from others that present similar clinical features.
What is differential diagnosis process. During a health history you ll be asked about your symptoms lifestyle and previous health problems. Then one by one using those same clues they will begin to narrow down the list by finding clues that don t fit. The working diagnosis may be either a list of potential diagnoses a differential diagnosis or a single potential diagnosis. That process of elimination is called differential diagnosis ultimately they will be left with one diagnosis and that s the one they give you.
Differential diagnosis generating a differential diagnosis that is developing a list of the possible conditions that might produce a patient s symptoms and signs is an important part of clinical reasoning. It s based off of the facts obtained from your symptoms medical history basic laboratory. A differential diagnosis is a list of possible conditions or diseases that could be causing your symptoms. Most differential diagnoses include a physical exam and a health history.
It involves making a list of all possible differential diagnosis is a process used by doctors to establish which mental health disorder is causing a patient s symptoms. A differential diagnosis is used to help diagnose physical or mental health disorders that cause similar symptoms. How will my provider make a differential diagnosis. Depending on items like medical history symptoms test results own medical knowledge and or input from colleagues doctors will usually come up with a handful of possible diagnoses for a particular condition.
It enables appropriate testing to rule out possibilities and confirm a final diagnosis. Differential diagnostic procedures are used by physicians to diagnose the specific disease in a patient or at least to eliminate any imminently life threatening conditions. Differential diagnosis ensures that doctors consider all possibilities before they make a diagnosis for a patient s illness. It is important to include uncommon as well as common.
Typically clinicians will consider more than one diagnostic hypothesis or possibility as an explanation of the patient s symptoms and will refine this list as further information is obtained in the diagnostic process. This process can be divided into six steps. Differential diagnosis is the process of determining a specific diagnosis by systematically comparing similar diagnoses.