[How women face a medical symptom: from the evaluation to health care selection]

To describe, from the patients' point of view, the process they follow from the moment they face a symptom until they seek medical help.

Findings reported here are part of a qualitative study on the health of women from Colombia. Data were collected by semistructured interviews. The analysis was guided by grounded theory.

When facing a symptom, women first evaluate it, then weigh their own capacities and assess their options, and last, they chose who might help them. These three stages form part of the process followed to seek medical help.

Health professionals should be sensitive to patients' subjective experience and acknowledge their role in the diagnostic process and in health care.