Diagnostic testing: an emergency medicine perspective.
Emergency physicians use diagnostic tests extensively, and the ability to order and interpret test results appropriately is a critical skill. An understanding of sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and likelihood ratios, as well as an awareness of the importance of pre-test probability, is essential. The purpose of this article is to explain, in a straightforward and clinically applicable manner, the core concepts related to diagnostic testing.
Worster
Andrew
A
Division of Emergency Medicine, Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Innes
Grant
G
Abu-Laban
Riyad B
RB