Thursday, May 13, 2010

What Is A Diagnostic Assessment

Diagnostic assessment enables researchers or scientists to make discoveries through the use of scientific method or equipment depending on the circumstance of the particular situation. Such discoveries require actions to either cure or remedy the situation. Following is a discussion of diagnostic assessment and its application within the medical field.


Definition of Diagnostic Assessment


Diagnostic assessment deals with the process of evaluation, with the aim of defining a problem and taking the required action to resolve the problem. Diagnostic assessment involves a process of documentation which enables the researcher or evaluator to define a problem. This process is a form of inquiry technique used in problem-solving. One could not solve a problem without first defining the problem, and its degree and magnitude.


Kinds of Diagnostic Assessment


Diagnostic assessment can happen in various disciplines. For instance within the field of health, diagnostic assessment enables doctors to see their patients' health problems through a careful analysis of the patients' internal and external conditions. Within an educational setting, diagnostic assessment is used to document in measurable terms, skills, attitudes, beliefs or knowledge. Such assessment could focus on individuals or it may focus on the larger learning community, such as a school.


Use in the Field of Medicine


Most often hospitals and medical centers around the United States receive patients who are unconscious and suffering from a serious health problem. The job of doctors and nurses is to first figure out the nature of the sickness. If patients are able to speak, some may help the process of their diagnostic assessment move forward faster by informing doctors where they are having problems. Assuming that patients were able to inform doctors they were having a serious chest pain or inflammation, doctors have been provided some vital information which could help them conduct a diagnostic assessment.








Performing a Diagnostic Assessment


The next step for doctors in their effort to analyze patients' problems is to perform a diagnostic assessment of the heart and chest region. Often doctors would use MRI equipment to perform a heart and chest analysis. This sophisticated equipment is able to project the heart onto a computer screen through the use of special computer software programs. Upon such diagnostic evaluation, the heart condition is determined and documented through a vision and audio analysis.


Action Resulting From Diagnostic Assessment


After a diagnostic assessment is performed, the attending doctors would analyze their imaging of the chest and heart region, When doctors determine through the scanned images that a heart artery is narrowing for instance, and causing some blockage for blood flow to the heart, they would recommend a corrective measure. The treatment is the resulting action of the diagnostic assessment in this case. The treatment may be seen as the end result of the performed diagnostic assessment.

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