With the numerous ailments, diseases, and injuries that a patient can be afflicted with, it is critical to make an early and accurate diagnosis in order to format the most appropriate course of treatment for the patient. However, as many of these ailments can have similar symptoms, such a diagnosis can be difficult when considering each of the presented symptoms of the patient. In other words, if the patient presents a symptom of a sore throat, there are countless illnesses that could be associated with this one particular symptom. Evan more conflicting is the presence of multiple symptoms that can be attributed to different illnesses. For example, the patient with a sore throat may also have chest congestion or an ear ache. The medical professional can not look at the individual symptoms as this would lead to the diagnosis of multiple illnesses and a confusion in the act of treatment.

In order to prevent this confusion of diagnosis and treatment, medical professionals utilize a method of evaluating the pattern of patient recognition symptoms. In other words, the medical professional must look at the collection of symptoms and the rate, frequency, and pattern of the occurrences of these symptoms (Lam & Smelzer, 2013).

This requires patient recollection as to which symptoms followed the other. This form of diagnostics requires the experience of the medical professional, the available literature, and the ability of the patient to recollect the process of the increase of the symptoms. The lack of any of these elements would lead to a potential misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment. However, if the elements are in place, the experience of the medical professional can be coupled with the available literature in order to evaluate the reported symptoms. This would lead to a successful diagnosis without the necessity of more invasive trial and error procedures.