How to Get the Right Diagnosis

Préface

The US medical care system is in crisis. Almost every family has a story of how someone they know and love failed to get a proper diagnosis or suffered through years of unceasing testing with no practical results. This book offers practical advicebased on years of personal experience with an undiagnosed conditionfor how a patient can leverage the system to their advantage and gain a timely and accurate diagnosis before it is too late. The book suggests five techniques to spur a correct diagnosis, five obstacles to anticipate during treatment, and six tips for building a partnership with your doctor.

The author has had a distinguished career as an analyst and senior manager in the CIA followed by a second career teaching critical thinking and writing skills and analytic techniques in the US Intelligence Community and over two dozen foreign intelligence agencies and Fortune 100 corporations. He has authored, co-authored, or edited ten other books, mostly focusing on intelligence topics.

Auteur
Randolph Pherson is a former senior CIA analyst and manager who has written ten books on intelligence analysis. Most are now being used by intelligence analysts in the United States and in over two dozen countries to improve their critical thinking, writing, and briefing skills. Mr. Pherson last served at CIA as a National Intelligence Officer in the National Intelligence Council. For over a decade since retiring, his company has been developing and teaching analytic techniques and critical thinking skills throughout the intelligence, homeland security, and defense communities as well as in the private sector. Mr. Pherson is the recipient of the Distinguished Intelligence Medal for his service as NIO for Latin America and the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal. He has an A.B. from Dartmouth College and a M.A. in International Relations from Yale University.

Texte du rabat

Randolph Pherson was walking toward the State Department when he had to stop to catch his breath. He went to see his doctor who told him to go immediately to the Emergency Room. He had been struggling with this condition for five years and had seen 17 specialists but none could give him a diagnosis. The Emergency Room doctor did some tests and twice tried to discharge him. He refused to leave until he got a diagnosis. The doctor relented and two days later he underwent major-and successful-surgery that saved his life. Mr. Pherson is now alive to tell you what he learned over his five-year sojourn and 16 things you can do to spur the medical system to pay attention to your condition. It also includes 18 stories of people that illustrate the power of the lessons learned.

Résumé

Get the Correct Medical Diagnosis You Need and Deserve

If you, or one of your loved ones, has a complex, chronic illness, you need to read this book. You are not alone if you fear your medical problems are misunderstood. Dr. Jeanne Shiffman, MD, Well BeingBeing Well, Integrative and Family Medicine

#1 Bestseller in Men's Health

Many know from experience that getting an accurate medical diagnosis can be difficult. Take it from Randy Pherson, who struggled with a medical condition for five years before getting a proper diagnosisand once he did, had to undergo a major surgery to save his life.

Learn to leverage the system. As traumatic as Pherson's situation was, it is not an isolated experience. He decided to help others facing similar situations. Applying his analytical skills honed as a CIA senior intelligence officer, Pherson offers precise, analytical techniques for using the medical system to your advantage.

Lessons that could save your life. Because of the sheer number of patients doctors and medical staff see each day, it can be difficult to get the medical attention you deserve. Pherson cites a network of individuals who have tried, both successfully and unsuccessfully, to navigate the medical system. By using their stories as examples, Pherson gives value to their experiences and provides lessons learned to potentially save lives.

Inside find:

• 16 tips for navigating the medical system
• How to better describe your pain and the specific questions to ask your doctor
• Techniques to spur a correct diagnosis and obstacles to overcome when seeking treatment
• Tips for building an effective partnership with your doctor If self-help and medicine books such as Lab Values, Diagnosis, How to Be a Patient, How Doctors Think, Attending, or The Patient Will See You Now have been valuable, then Randy Pherson's How to Get the Right Diagnosis is the next book for you.