If diagnosis is the conclusion, what are diagnostics usually understood to represent?
Answer
The necessary steps—the investigation—that leads you there.
The terms diagnostics and diagnosis are related but refer to different parts of the identification process. Diagnosis refers to the actual outcome, which is the identification of the character of a disease or condition based on observed signs and symptoms. In contrast, diagnostics refers broadly to the tools, procedures, tests, scans, and the overall investigation that medical professionals utilize. Therefore, if the diagnosis is the finalized identification, the diagnostics encompass the practical methodology—the physical instruments and procedures—required to gather the evidence leading up to that determination.
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