Translations:Medical diagnosis/26/en

Lag time

When making a medical diagnosis, a lag time is a delay in time until a step towards diagnosis of a disease or condition is made. Types of lag times are mainly:

• Onset-to-medical encounter lag time, the time from onset of symptoms until visiting a health care provider
• Encounter-to-diagnosis lag time, the time from first medical encounter to diagnosis
  • Lag time due to delays in reading x-rays have been cited as a major challenge in care delivery. The Department of Health and Human Services has reportedly found that interpretation of x-rays is rarely available to emergency room physicians prior to patient discharge.