Diagnosis & Treatment
Diagnosis (Dx)
Recognizing a disease or condition by its outward presentation (signs and symptoms) and assessments (labs, X-Ray etc.)
Differential diagnosis
The process of weighing the probability of various other conditions accounting for a patient’s condition.
- process of narrowing a list of all possible diagnoses that could explain what’s medically wrong with the patient using tests to exclude various diagnoses
- The differential diagnosis of rhinitis (a runny nose) includes allergic rhinitis (hayfever), the abuse of nasal decongestants and, of course, the common cold.
Treatment (Tx): providing or prescribing a remedy based on a patient’s diagnosis (most of the time!)
The doctor doesn’t need to narrow the differential Dx to one option – just need to be precise enough to decide a course of action (e.g., a drug treatment, or just ‘watchful waiting’).
Care Planning
A Care Plan is an agreed set of actions and possibly goals.
- In nursing, this can include recording systematic observations, administering medication, bandage changes, etc.
– In chronic disease management, this can take the long view and action may be coordinated by the patient- E.g., annual foot examination in diabetes, or adhering to an exercise
and/or diet regimen - May include targets for blood pressure, HbA1c, BMI, etc.
- E.g., annual foot examination in diabetes, or adhering to an exercise