Basic principles of diagnostic testing

0.5 CME. This module reviews the basic laboratory medicine principles of diagnostic testing.

Instructor

Elizabeth Maloney, MD
Education Co-Director, Invisible International

Description

Diagnostic tests can be described on the basis of several distinct characteristics, including sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy. This module reviews the basic laboratory medicine principles of diagnostic testing.

Learning objectives

  1. Understand the role of diagnostic testing in the diagnostic process
  2. Understand the general characteristics of diagnostic tests and their impact on test selection
  3. Understand sequential testing

This session, Basic principles of diagnostic testing, is approved for 0.5 enduring AAFP Prescribed credits.

AAFP Prescribed credit is accepted by the American Medical Association as equivalent to AMA PRA Category 1 credit(s)â„¢ toward the AMA Physician’s Recognition Award. When applying for the AMA PRA, Prescribed credit earned must be reported as Prescribed, not as Category 1.

The AAFP has reviewed One Health Medical Education for a Changing Climate and deemed it acceptable for AAFP credit. Term of approval is from 01/02/2024 to 01/01/2025. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

About Instructor

Elizabeth L. Maloney, MD

Dr. Elizabeth Maloney is a Minnesota family physician. She received her medical degree from the University of Minnesota in 1986 and completed her residency in family medicine at the University in 1989. Early in her career, she practiced in Guam, where lab and other testing modalities were often unavailable. It was here that she honed her clinical skills and learned to translate history and exam findings into clinical diagnoses and treatment plans. Dr. Maloney began reviewing the scientific literature on tick-borne diseases in earnest in 2006. Her initial review was an attempt to understand why some patients did not present or respond as described in review articles and conference lectures. When she discovered that Borrelia burgdorferi, the agent of Lyme disease, is a complex organism, the immune response to it is nuanced and there are gaps in the clinical understanding of Lyme disease, Dr. Maloney changed her focus towards educating medical professionals about tick-borne illnesses. Dr. Maloney began providing accredited continuing medical education courses on Lyme disease for physicians in 2007 and continues to do so. She has also developed similar education for nurses and mental health providers. She has published several papers in peer-reviewed medical journals and is frequently invited to speak to medical professionals across the US. She has served as a consultant to private organizations and government agencies in the US and Canada. In February 2018 she was selected to serve on the Pathogenesis, Transmission and Treatment subcommittee of the federally mandated Tick-borne Disease Working Group. Additionally, she recently accepted an invitation to serve on a peer review committee for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

12 Courses

Not Enrolled

Course Includes

  • 1 Lesson
  • 2 Quizzes
  • Course Certificate