<P> Unless the provider is certain of the condition present, further medical tests, such as medical imaging, are performed or scheduled in part to confirm or disprove the diagnosis but also to document the patient's status and keep the patient's medical history up to date . </P> <P> If unexpected findings are made during this process, the initial hypothesis may be ruled out and the provider must then consider other hypotheses . </P> <P> In a pattern recognition method the provider uses experience to recognize a pattern of clinical characteristics . It is mainly based on certain symptoms or signs being associated with certain diseases or conditions, not necessarily involving the more cognitive processing involved in a differential diagnosis . </P> <P> This may be the primary method used in cases where diseases are "obvious", or the provider's experience may enable him or her to recognize the condition quickly . Theoretically, a certain pattern of signs or symptoms can be directly associated with a certain therapy, even without a definite decision regarding what is the actual disease, but such a compromise carries a substantial risk of missing a diagnosis which actually has a different therapy so it may be limited to cases where no diagnosis can be made . </P>

Where does a physician list the final diagnosis