Determining and Confirming Your Diagnosis

Few things in life strike fear in our hearts the way a difficult diagnosis does. Once you've caught your breath, and decided it's time to empower yourself, there are a number of steps a newly diagnosed patient can take to understand a new diagnosis, confirm it, study treatment options, then begin the process required to beat it.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with something grave - a terminal disease or condition, something chronic and hard to treat, a problem that will require difficult-to-perform surgery or a very long-term recuperation, then you remember exactly how that news was delivered. Sharing your story will help others process their news, too. ...See submissions

The process of differential diagnosis helps patients understand the evidence used to determine their diagnosis, helps them learn about alternatives, and helps them confirm that their diagnosis was made correctly.

If you have symptoms that won't go away, or you find treatment isn't working well for you, it's possible you have been misdiagnosed, or that your diagnosis has been missed. That may seem like a long shot, so you might want to understand better how common missed and misdiagnosis are.

Smart patients understand the importance of hearing back from the doctor about any medical tests, no matter what the medical test results. Here's now to get those results even when your provider doesn't provide them in a timely fashion.

You've been put through a medical test result, and now you've got a copy of the results. They are incomprehensible - why? - because by themselves they mean very little. Is "positive" good? Or not? What about negative? Well, truth is, negative can be very good. Here's some more information about understanding your medical test results.

Good and effective medical care begins by choosing the right doctor for your needs. These tips will help you choose your Dr. Right.

When we experience unusual symptoms, we are curious about their causes. Even before we see our doctor or have a medical test, we want to know the answers about what could be causing those symptoms. Symptom checker applications are available on many health websites, but how accurate can they be?

There are several reasons why medical test results may be wrong or inaccurate. When patients get the wrong results, they may not get the follow up treatment they need, or they may be treated for something they don't have. Learn why medical test results accuracy is important and the questions you should ask your doctor about how accurate your...

In 2012, a group of nine medical specialties came together to issue a list of 45 medical tests, procedures and treatments that are unnecessary for patients, put them at risk and drive up costs. Here are the lists, broken out by specialty, to help you have a conversation with your doctor.

Informed consent is a concept that requires patients to understand the risks and benefits of any test, procedure or treatment a doctor recommends and a patient agrees to. Empowered patients need to understand just what they are agreeing to.

A savvy patient will realize that when symptoms appear, it's time to use these three tools to help get the best diagnosis, make treatment decisions and find the best medical outcomes.

Thousands of patients go undiagnosed each year. They get frustrated because no one can seem to solve the mystery of their illness. Here are some steps to take to try to arrive at a solution for your undiagnosed medical disease or condition.