Diagnostic Tests Toolkit

Diagnostic Tests Toolkit Diagnostic Tests Toolkit Finding the evidence for diagnostic tests Establishing an evidence-based methodology to assess the effectiveness of diagnostic tests has posed problems for many years. Now that the framework is in place health professionals can find and appraise the evidence for themselves. With Diagnostic Tests Toolkit clinicians and junior researchers can interpret the evidence for the effectiveness of different types of diagnostic tests, or develop their own research using the successful ‘step-by-step’ format of the Toolkit series. Written by renowned clinical researchers, this is the first basic guide to evidence-based diagnosis. It is equally valuable to starters in clinical research and those needing a quick refresher on the core elements of evidence-based diagnosis.

Getting the right diagnosis is a key aspect of health care - it provides an explanation of a patient's health problem and informs subsequent health care decisions. The diagnostic process is a complex, collaborative activity that involves clinical reasoning and information gathering to determine a patient's health problem. According to Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, diagnostic errors-inaccurate or delayed diagnoses-persist throughout all settings of care and continue to harm an unacceptable number of patients. It is likely that most people will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, sometimes with devastating consequences. Diagnostic errors may cause harm to patients by preventing or delaying appropriate treatment, providing unnecessary or harmful treatment, or resulting in psychological or financial repercussions. The committee concluded that improving the diagnostic process is not only possible, but also represents a moral, professional, and public health imperative. Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, a continuation of the landmark Institute of Medicine reports To Err Is Human (2000) and Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001), finds that diagnosis-and, in particular, the occurrence of diagnostic errorsâ€"has been largely unappreciated in efforts to improve the quality and safety of health care. Without a dedicated focus on improving diagnosis, diagnostic errors will likely worsen as the delivery of health care and the diagnostic process continue to increase in complexity. Just as the diagnostic process is a collaborative activity, improving diagnosis will require collaboration and a widespread commitment to change among health care professionals, health care organizations, patients and their families, researchers, and policy makers. The recommendations of Improving Diagnosis in Health Care contribute to the growing momentum for change in this crucial area of health care quality and safety.

Technology assessment can lead to the rapid application of essential diagnostic technologies and prevent the wide diffusion of marginally useful methods. In both of these ways, it can increase quality of care and decrease the cost of health care. This comprehensive monograph carefully explores methods of and barriers to diagnostic technology assessment and describes both the rationale and the guidelines for meaningful evaluation. While proposing a multi-institutional approach, it emphasizes some of the problems involved and defines a mechanism for improving the evaluation and use of medical technology and essential resources needed to enhance patient care.

The WHO consolidated guidelines on tuberculosis. Module 2: screening – systematic screening for tuberculosis disease is an updated and consolidated summary of WHO recommendations on systematic screening for tuberculosis (TB) disease, containing 17 recommendations for populations in which TB screening should be conducted and tools to be used for TB screening. TB screening is strongly recommendations for household and close contacts of individuals with TB, people living with HIV, miners exposed to silica dust, and prisoners. In addition, screening is conditionally recommended for people with risk factors for TB attending health care, and for communities with risk factors for TB and limited access to care (e.g. homeless, urban poor, refugees, migrants). General population screening is recommended in high-burden settings (0.5% prevalence or higher). Symptoms, chest radiography (CXR), and molecular WHO-recommended rapid diagnostic tests for TB are recommended as screening tools for all adults eligible for screening. Computer-aided detection programmes are recommended as alternatives to human interpretation of CXR in settings where trained personnel are scarce. For people living with HIV, C-reactive protein is also a good screening tool. This guideline document is accompanied by an operational handbook, the WHO operational handbook on tuberculosis. Module 2: screening – systematic screening for tuberculosis disease, that presents principles of screening, steps in planning and implementing a screening programme, and algorithm options for screening different populations.

Primary care physicians know from experience how many patients come to them needing help with anxiety and related disorders: these disorders have a lifetime prevalence rate of 30%, but they often seem to be present in a much higher proportion of primary care visits. Time pressure challenges every primary care provider who responds to these disorders. The Primary Care Toolkit for Anxiety and Related Disorders—carefully aligned with the DSM-5—gives you the tools to help you treat your patients promptly and effectively. Quickly find the information and strategies you need using summaries of diagnostic criteria and pharmacological therapies, severity assessments, treatment summaries, and case studies. Efficiently screen, diagnose, and manage common anxiety and related disorders, using visit-by-visit guides for mild, moderate, and severe disorders. An accompanying CD puts the best, most effective diagnostic tools at your fingertips, ready to be printed and used by you and your patients: patient self-report forms and questionnaires, symptom checklists, functional impairment assessment scales, and more. The Primary Care Toolkit helps prepare you for the 7 anxiety and related disorders that primary care physicians see most often: Generalized anxiety disorder, Panic disorder, Agoraphobia, Social anxiety disorder, Obsessive-compulsive disorder, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Adjustment disorder. Whether you are a family physician, an ER doctor, a pharmacist, a nurse or nurse practitioner, or a medical student, the information and resources in The Primary Care Toolkit for Anxiety and Related Disorders will add to your clinical primary care knowledge and skills.

Volume II: "This contains the appendices to the report. Presented are the planning documents that guided the development and execution of the research (Detailed Test Plan, Implementation Support Plan, and Student Guide) and examples of the manual data collection instruments. These appendices contribute to the understanding of this research effort as well as the findings, lessons learned and recommendations presented in Volume I, Technical Report 1252. Further, the appendices provide valuable insights for researchers in future inquiries."

Diagnostic Test Facts Made Incredibly Quick! provides instant access to essential information on more than 400 diagnostic tests. The book fits comfortably into a pocket, and the wipeable page surface allows nurses to write notes and remove them easily. Distinctively colored tabs identify the major sections: Basics, Blood, Urine, Cultures, Imaging, and Other including ECG and EEG. Tests are listed alphabetically within each section. Each listing includes the purpose of the test; normal reference values for men, women, and children, including SI values; critical values; and nursing considerations. Scores of quick-reference charts and illustrations are included.