ABSTRACT
Until and unless the health provider is convinced of the condition present in the patient, further medical tests are performed to establish the reasons, and, moreover, consultations with other health specialists in the eld can be pursued. In spite of all of these complexities, most patient consultations are relatively brief because many diseases are obvious and can be diagnosed with current tools. Once the health provider completes the diagnostic process, the prognosis is described to the patient and a treatment plan is suggested, which includes therapy and follow-up checkups or consultations. Furthermore, a laboratory diagnosis can be a substitution to the diagnosis made by the examination of the patient, for example, a proper diagnosis of infectious diseases usually requires both an examination of symptoms and laboratory test of characteristics of the pathogen involved. The success or failure of diagnostic tests depends on adequate and accurate diagnosis (Figure 9.3).
