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Medicine vocabulary · Diagnosis and Tests

Working diagnosis

Meaning in medicine, with examples

nounCommon term

In medicine, working diagnosis means: The most likely diagnosis at a given moment, used to guide tests and treatment until it is confirmed or changed.

In Turkish: ön tanı, çalışma tanısı

How it is used

Doctors state a working diagnosis in handovers, notes and case presentations, often followed by a differential diagnosis. Provisional diagnosis means much the same. The term shows that the team is still open to other explanations.

Example sentences

  1. Our working diagnosis is community-acquired pneumonia, but we're also considering a PE.

  2. The scan didn't support the working diagnosis, so we went back to the history.

Common collocations

  • working diagnosis of
  • revise the working diagnosis
  • current working diagnosis
  • differential diagnosisA list of the possible diseases that could explain a patient's symptoms and signs, which the doctor narrows down with tests and more questions.
  • diagnosisThe decision about which disease or condition is causing a patient's problems, reached after taking a history, examining the patient and doing tests.
  • investigationA test or examination, such as a blood test or a scan, done to find the cause of a patient's problem or to check their condition.
  • findingsThe facts discovered by examining a patient or doing a test, such as a sound heard in the chest or a shadow on an X-ray.

More terms: Diagnosis and Tests

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.