How is a medical diagnosis made?

Question

I know this is extremely broad. I think I understand that only a medical doctor may do this. But what regulations do hospitals generally have? Are given "diagnoses" generally written on paper with clear guidelines or is the experience and knowledge of the medical doctor the most important (determining factor)?

I'm sorry this question is so broad. I mean, scientific discoveries are being made all the time. How does the medical doctor integrate these advances in the clinical work? .. or is this a decisions made by others?

Answer 1

A medical diagnosis is made by taking a patients history about health and symptoms and by examining the patient. Signs and symptoms suggest a disease. That may be enough to make a diagnosis. (Eg, if you have a stuffy nose and a cough, and a low fever you probably have a common cold, caused by a virus).

A physician might take samples of mucous, or take blood or urine samples --or even take a chunk of skin or something else out of you to do laboratory tests on them to either make or confirm a diagnosis. Signs in the samples will point to a certain disorder or disease . --Or the doc might give a person some kind of imaging sturdy (x-ray, MRI, CT, etc.). A person with heart problems with have an ECG test; a person who has seizures or will be given and EEG test. A range of specialists work with lab samples and read images, etc. and then report the findings back to the original examining doctor. The findings are all documented on the patient's medical record. Many diseases have similar symptoms and some diseases have unusual symptoms in some people so sometimes patients receive a misdiagnosis. Sometimes getting to the right diagnosis is a process of elimination.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Medical diagnoses are based upon history, physical exam (or mental status exam) and clinical findings. The physician makes the diagnosis.

There are some guidelines in the mental health area because this tends to be a very subjective science (that doesn't make sense, does it...). Those guidelines are in the DSM IV.

Regarding physical diagnoses, where there are obscure or indistinct objective observations, a process of elimination is used to come to a definitive diagnosis. Then that diagnosis is only good until another set of objective findings and clinical observations are assessed. If the Dx becomes something else given new or other material findings, then, that is that. NOTHING SHOULD BE WRITTEN IN STONE regarding medical diagnoses.

Answer 4

the health professional looks at hte patients signs, symptoms and from cinical tests, ie, x-rays, blood tests, scans and other diagnostic testing a confirmed diagnosis can be made.
all health professionals work to NICE Clinical Governance and evidence based practice backed by extensive clinical research and clinical trials.
However, nothing is 100 per cent conclusive and errors and misdiagnosis are made occasionally, however, if the health professional follows correct protocol, guidelines, evidence base and medical training these errors can be eliminated.
Also the golden rule that all health professionals are taught that if in doubt or not sure refer on or seek another opinion from their peers and other health professionals with that specific expertise.
hope this helps.