Assessments are constantly being conducted on patients, but they may not provide useful information. In order to ensure that health assessments provide relevant data, nurses should familiarize themselves with test-specific factors that may affect the validity, reliability, and value of these tools.
Properly identifying the cause and type of a patient’s condition involves a process of elimination known as differential diagnosis. Using this process, a health professional can take a given set of physical abnormalities, vital signs, health assessment findings, as well as patient descriptions of symptoms, and incrementally narrow them down until one diagnosis is determined as the most likely cause.
For this Case Study Assignment, you will determine the physical exams and diagnostic tests that would be most appropriate for gaining information and better understanding of your patient’s condition. Then, based on your analysis, you will formulate a differential diagnosis for the patient
Assignments Case Study:
Mr. RG is a retired 75 y/o male coming to the office with a 2-week inability to move his bowels. He is a widower who has a history of hypertension. On his vital signs his BP is 168/95. During the interview, RG tells you about a hard lump on his left lower quadrant.
Assignment: Diagnostic Reasoning
Include the following:
· Identify the patient’s chief complaint.
· Identify what physical exams and diagnostic tests would be most appropriate to gather more information about the patient’s condition. Be specific and explain your reasoning.
· Explain how the results would be used to make a diagnosis.
· Identify
three to five (3–5) possible conditions that may be considered in a differential diagnosis for the patient. Explain your thinking.
2-page APA format. Excluding title and reference page
A least 3 intext citation and references
