Field Notes from the Difficult Diagnosis Clinic: When to Stop, When to Push, and When You’re Already Done

Overview

Through two contrasting cases from Northwestern’s Socrate Project for Difficult Diagnosis, this 30-minute session explores how to navigate diagnostic uncertainty in Primary Care: when to stop testing, when to push for the right test, and which elusive cases truly warrant referral.

Click here to answer audience response questions, access downloadable slides, and ask questions to the presenter.

Learning Objectives

• Recognize when a diagnostic workup is appropriately complete and articulate how additional testing in certain conditions can lead to harm rather than reassurance
• Apply an understanding of test characteristics to determine when a negative result is conclusive versus when to push for better or more invasive testing
• Reframe the management of medically unexplained and persistent symptoms with patients, shifting the goal from continued diagnostic pursuit toward validation and treatment
• Identify the features of an elusive case that warrant specialty or difficult-diagnosis consultation, distinguishing them from cases where the primary care workup is already sufficient