Diagnosis

A medical diagnosis (abbreviated Dx, or Ds) means naming the cause of a person’s symptoms. Diagnoses can cover a wide range of medical issues, from acute illnesses like infections to chronic health conditions such as diabetes or cancer.

Tips & Links

• A diagnosis helps health care professionals to understand and categorize a specific health problem you may be experiencing. From the diagnosis, health care professionals can develop a treatment plan for you that may include medications, tests, treatments, lifestyle changes, or surgery.
• A diagnosis is made by reviewing a person’s symptoms, medical history, physical examinations, and, in many cases, medical tests or diagnostic procedures.
• Know that some health conditions are not easy to diagnose, and some people live with symptoms and problems that are never diagnosed or labelled. Many autoimmune diseases do not have a label or cause.
• Ask questions to help you understand your condition or diagnosis. Ask how this diagnosis could impact your life, including its effects on your physical, emotional, social, and mental well-being, the prognosis or expected outcome of this condition, what treatment options are available, such as medications, surgery, or therapies.
• Explore information about your health condition on research-based websites such as Healthlink BC.
• Review the list of questions about any tests or treatments being recommended for you by your physician or nurse practitioner from Healthlink BC.
• Keep all the information about your diagnosis in your health profile in your digital and print copies of your Mywell Health planner.

Tools – Checklists, Handouts & Videos