| The effective treatment of disease begins with an | | | | in diagnosing the disorder.o Digestive diseases: |
| accurate diagnosis. The failure to diagnose an illness | | | | Accurately diagnosing these illnesses present a |
| properly can lead to extended sickness and | | | | challenge because of their similarity. Different |
| unnecessary medical complications. | | | | digestive diseases can share similar symptoms, which |
| Many factors come into play when correctly | | | | can complicate pinpointing the exact disease.o |
| diagnosing a disease: an accurate assessment of | | | | Illnesses with vague symptoms: Symptoms provide |
| symptoms, the doctor's knowledge of the condition, | | | | the clues a doctor uses to determine the type and |
| effective laboratory testing and the patient's ability | | | | cause of an illness. When symptoms are vague, |
| to communicate symptoms. | | | | fleeting or variable, identifying the underlying disease |
| Because identifying an illness is a complex process, | | | | is difficult. For example, many conditions are |
| misdiagnosis is one of the more common medical | | | | associated with general fatigue, such as lupus, multiple |
| mistakes. Misdiagnosis can take several forms, from | | | | sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, Lyme disease and |
| the failure to diagnose an illness to a partial diagnosis. | | | | hypothyroidism.o Rare conditions: Diagnosing an illness |
| A partial diagnosis may misidentify the correct | | | | depends, in part, on recognizing patterns and making |
| subtype of disease, miss medication causes, related | | | | correlations between symptoms. Rare conditions can |
| conditions or certain complications associated with the | | | | defy easy classification because they may not fit |
| disease. The failure to diagnose means misidentifying | | | | familiar disease patterns. Or they may fit familiar |
| the disease entirely. | | | | disease patterns and be mistaken for a more |
| Misdiagnosis follows certain patterns: some diseases | | | | common disease. Plus, if a doctor has never |
| are more difficult to diagnose than others, while | | | | encountered a rare disease before, the chances of |
| some medical settings lead to misdiagnosis more | | | | diagnosing it correctly are lower. |
| frequently than others. | | | | Where a patient is diagnosed also can affect the |
| Infant conditions; mental, emotional and behavioral | | | | accuracy of the assessment. Emergency rooms are |
| disorders; digestive diseases; rare conditions; and | | | | likely to have a higher rate of the failure to diagnose |
| illnesses with vague symptoms can all be challenging | | | | a condition properly. The time and environmental |
| to assess accurately.o Infant conditions: Because | | | | pressure involved in diagnosing patients in an ER help |
| infants cannot communicate verbally, diagnosing an | | | | account for the greater incidence of misdiagnosis in |
| illness is naturally more challenging. Doctors must be | | | | this setting. |
| especially attuned to behavioral signals, such as | | | | A large portion of malpractice cases result from the |
| eye-rubbing or ear-pulling as possible clues to | | | | failure to diagnose patients properly. Among the top |
| identifying illness. A thorough physical exam and lab | | | | misdiagnosed conditions leading to malpractice |
| tests also hold significant importance when assessing | | | | lawsuits are breast cancer, myocardial infarction, lung |
| infants.o Mental, emotional and behavioral disorders: | | | | cancer and colon cancer. |
| The motivations and causes of human behavior range | | | | The failure to diagnose a disease delays proper |
| widely from one individual to another, making the | | | | treatment and increases the probability of the |
| correct diagnosis of these disorders difficult. In many | | | | disease causing harm. Seeking a second opinion is one |
| cases, patients may not be aware of changes in their | | | | of the best methods of ensuring proper diagnosis. |
| behavior or be able to accurately communicate | | | | Multiple opinions can be invaluable, especially when it |
| changes in their moods or mental states. Plus, physical | | | | comes to diseases that are inherently hard to |
| tests, such as urine or blood tests, may not be useful | | | | diagnose. |