Data taken from a person's medical history and physical examination help a doctor make a preliminary diagnosis, while diagnostic testing can provide a more complete medical picture. Health professionals use diagnostic tests to screen for the possibility of illness in people without symptoms, to diagnose disease in patients with symptoms and to manage treatment after a diagnosis has been made.
Instructions
1. Consult with your primary care physician. Know what type of diagnostic test your doctor has ordered. Screen-test results indicate the possibility of disease usually in people without symptoms, which can lead to an early diagnosis. According to the American Cancer Society, early detection of disease in patients at high risk for certain cancers, such as women who have a family history of breast cancer should "start a screening schedule at an earlier age or more frequently than those without any specific symptoms."
2. Get a second opinion if you've received a positive test result from a screening test. Avoid submitting to unnecessary tests that can be costly, risky and cause discomfort. According to physicians Diana Nicoll and William M. Detmer, authors of "Basic Principles of Diagnostic Test Use and Interpretation," diagnostic testing accounts for one-fifth of health-care expenditures in the U.S.
Consult with a specialist who treats the disease indicated in your test results. Screen tests can incorrectly give a positive result for people without disease or a false-negative for patients who have the condition.
3. Consider using the expertise of a pathologist to review laboratory findings. If you've been diagnosed with cancer, for example, get a second opinion not just from another oncologist but a pathologist as well, according to www.caring.com. Check with your insurance company before setting up the appointment to find what your policy covers. The National Institutes of Health, in conjunction with the U.S. National Library of Medicine, compiled an online health professional directory to help patients locate specialists in their home cities and towns.
Tags: people without, Consult with, diagnostic testing, disease patients, people without symptoms, second opinion, with your
