Differential Diagnosis
Refer to “The Medical H and P” and “How to Create a Differential Diagnosis” videos in this topic. Discuss your observations. What questions did the videos raise for further exploration? Explain what else would you have added to the examination and patient interaction activities.
After watching the videos, I have learned the importance of using the patient history and physical as a basis for selecting relevant diagnostic testing, which leads to a timely and accurate diagnosis. This process protects the patients from the risks of unnecessary testing and is cost-effective. The videos are very helpful in breaking down step-by-step the process for bedside differential diagnosis. The videos also show that it is easy to get lost in certain diagnostics and diagnosis as well as the bias we may develop (Strong 2013). As the healthcare field continues to evolve, it is critical to include patients as active participants in their own healthcare, which begins by listening closely to their concerns through eliciting a comprehensive patient history. The data collected during the history will in turn lead to a focused and skilled physical exam, which will ultimately form the basis for selective testing and an improved diagnostic process (Bickley, Szilagyi, & Bates, 2017). A “differential diagnosis” is distinguishing a condition as the potential cause of a patient’s illness via process of elimination. Because the ultimate diagnosis is unknown at the time of assessment, it’s important for clinicians to consider multiple conditions that may cause similar observable symptoms and follow a process of elimination to rule them out. When a clinician considers differential diagnoses in determining a patient’s condition, they’re using what they know about pathophysiology and applying it with their assessment findings and the patient’s history. Although this process may not arrive at a concrete diagnostic certainty, it’s infinitely useful in narrowing the field of potential choices and zeroing in on needed treatments (Kaiser, 2016).
