Differential Diagnosis: A Comprehensive Guide for Medical Professionals

Differential diagnosis is one of the great procedural innovations of modern medicine. It essentially applies the process of elimination to diagnosing ambiguous conditions. Proper diagnosis is of the utmost importance because a misdiagnosis can lead to an untreated condition or, worse, an improper treatment that proves fatal to the patient. Physicians apply differential diagnosis in tandem with more technological diagnostic tools to find the root of a patient's medical problem.

Instructions

• 1

  Examine the patient and develop a full list of symptoms based on your observations and the patient's reporting.

• 2

  Write down a tentative list of potential diagnoses, in order of likelihood, based on your initial impression.

• 3

  Have the patient undergo relevant medical tests. These will vary widely depending on the symptoms presented but may include things like X-rays, blood work and MRI scans.

• 4

  Analyze the results of the tests.

• 5

  Eliminate potential diagnoses one by one, based on the gestalt of the diagnostic data (patient examination and medical tests), until you determine the ailment.