Interpretation Of Diagnostic Tests

Includes information on laboratory procedures used in the diagnosis and treatment of many adult and pediatric conditions.

Providing the answers for a range of adult and paediatric conditions, this text summarises the available tests for most diseases, explaining what the results mean, and discussing differential diagnoses. It also includes additional tests based on molecular biology.

Wallach’s Interpretation of Diagnostic Tests, now in its Ninth Edition, has been completely revised and updated by a new author team from the Department of Hospital Laboratories, UMass Memorial Medical Center faculty, who are carrying on the tradition of Jacques Wallach’s teachings. This text serves as a practical guide to the use of laboratory tests which aids physicians in using tests more effectively and efficiently by offering test outcomes, possible meanings, differential diagnosis, and summaries of tests available. The book has been reorganized into 2 sections. The first section is devoted to an alphabetical listing of laboratory tests while stressing the integration of the clinical laboratory in the clinical decision making process. Test sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative infectious disease probabilities are included whenever appropriate. Microbiology tests are listed in a separate chapter. The second section is devoted to disease states. Where appropriate, a patient’s chief complaint and/or physical findings are initially presented with subsequent discussions focused on discrete disease states as they relate to a patient’s chief complaint. Current molecular diagnostic testing, cytogenetics, common pitfalls, test limitations, and identification of appropriate tests for specific clinical presentations are also addressed. Ninth Edition highlights include: Detailed listing and description of routine and esoteric tests listed alphabetically, with information on when to order and how to interpret the test results based on evidence-based laboratory medicine. Information on how to work up patients with specific symptoms and the appropriate lab tests to order Up-to-date test procedures including molecular diagnostic tests Detailed microbiology chapter of infectious diseases

This condensed, pocket-sized version of Dr. Wallach's Interpretation of Diagnostic Tests, Sixth Edition is a portable quick-reference guide to common laboratory tests. It provides immediate answers to everyday questions such as whether a test result is normal or abnormal and what might be causing an abnormal result. Readers can search for answers in the way that best suits their needs--by the index or table of contents or by specific test, result (normal/abnormal), or disease.

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.

Wallach's Interpretation of Diagnostic Tests, 10th Edition serves as a practical guide to the use of laboratory tests which aids physicians in using tests more effectively and efficiently by offering test outcomes, possible meanings, differential diagnosis, and summaries of tests available. The book is organized into 2 sections. The first section is devoted to disease states. Where appropriate, a patient’s chief complaint and/or physical findings are initially presented with subsequent discussions focused on discrete disease states as they relate to a patient’s chief complaint. The second section is devoted to an alphabetical listing of laboratory tests while stressing the integration of the clinical laboratory in the clinical decision making process. Test sensitivity, specific and possible and negative probabilities are included whenever appropriate. Microbiology tests are listed in a separate chapter.

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.