it might be pathogenic or salutogenic. it is generally uncertain and provisional. once a diagnostic opinion has been reached, the provider is able to propose a management plan, which will include treatment as well as plans for follow-up. from this point on, in addition to treating the patient's condition, the provider can educate the patient about the etiology, progression, prognosis, other outcomes, and possible treatments of her or his ailments, as well as providing advice for maintaining health. a treatment plan is proposed which may include therapy and follow-up consultations and tests to monitor the condition and the progress of the treatment, if needed, usually according to the medical guidelines provided by the medical field on the treatment of the particular illness. relevant information should be added to the medical record of the patient. a failure to respond to treatments that would normally work may indicate a need for review of the diagnosis. nancy mcwilliams identifies five reasons that determine the necessity for diagnosis: diagnosis for treatment planning; information contained in it related to prognosis; protecting interests of patients; a diagnosis might help the therapist to empathize with his patient; might reduce the likelihood that some fearful patients will go-by the treatment. types sub-types of diagnoses include: clinical diagnosis a diagnosis made on the basis of medical signs and reported symptoms, rather than diagnostic tests laboratory diagnosis a diagnosis based significantly on laboratory reports or test results, rather than the physical examination of the patient. for instance, a proper diagnosis of infectious diseases usually requires both an examination of signs and symptoms, as well as laboratory test results and characteristics of the pathogen involved. radiology diagnosis a diagnosis based primarily on the results from medical imaging studies. greenstick fractures are common radiological diagnoses. electrography diagnosis a diagnosis based on measurement and recording of electrophysiologic activity. tissue diagnosis a diagnosis based on the macroscopic, microscopic, and molecular examination of tissues such as biopsies or whole organs. for example, a definitive diagnosis of cancer is made via tissue examination by a pathologist. principal diagnosis the single medical diagnosis that is most relevant to the patient's chief complaint or need for treatment. many patients have additional diagnoses. admitting diagnosis the diagnosis given as the reason why the patient was admitted to the hospital; it may differ from the actual problem or from the discharge diagnoses, which are the diagnoses recorded when the patient is discharged from the hospital. differential diagnosis a process of identifying all of the possible diagnoses that could be connected to the signs, symptoms, and lab findings, and then ruling out diagnoses until a final determination can be made. diagnostic criteria designates the combination of signs, symptoms, and test results that the clinician uses to attempt to determine the correct diagnosis. they are standards, normally published by international committees, and they are designed to offer the best sensitivity and specificity possible, respect the presence of a condition, with the state-of-the-art technology. prenatal diagnosis diagnosis work done before birth diagnosis of exclusion a medical condition whose presence cannot be established with complete confidence from history, examination or testing. diagnosis is therefore by elimination of all other reasonable possibilities. dual diagnosis the diagnosis of two related, but separate, medical conditions or comorbidities. the term almost always referred to a diagnosis of a serious mental illness and a substance use disorder, however, the increasing prevalence of genetic testing has revealed many cases of patients with multiple concomitant genetic disorders. self-diagnosis the diagnosis or identification of a medical conditions in oneself. self-diagnosis is very common. remote diagnosis a type of telemedicine that diagnoses a patient without being physically in the same room as the patient. nursing diagnosis rather than focusing on biological processes, a nursing diagnosis identifies people's responses to situations in their lives, such as a readiness to change or a willingness to accept assistance. computer-aided diagnosis providing symptoms allows the computer to identify the problem and diagnose the user to the best of its ability. health screening begins by identifying the part of the body where the symptoms are located; the computer cross-references a database for the corresponding disease and presents a diagnosis. overdiagnosis the diagnosis of "disease" that will never cause symptoms, distress, or death during a patient's lifetime wastebasket diagnosis a vague, or even completely fake, medical or psychiatric label given to the patient or to the medical records department for essentially non-medical reasons, such as to reassure the patient by providing an official-sounding label, to make the provider look effective, or to obtain approval for treatment. this term is also used as a derogatory label for disputed, poorly described, overused, or questionably classified diagnoses, such as pouchitis and senility, or to dismiss diagnoses that amount to overmedicalization, such as the labeling of normal responses to physical hunger as reactive hypoglycemia. retrospective diagnosis the labeling of an illness in a historical figure or specific historical event using modern knowledge, methods and disease classifications.