NURS 6512 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Template Comprehensive SOAP Template
Patient Initials: _______ Age: _______ Gender: _______
Note: The mnemonic below is included for your reference and should be removed before the submission of your final note.
O = onset of symptom (acute/gradual)
L= location
D= duration (recent/chronic)
C= character
A= associated symptoms/aggravating factors
R= relieving factors
T= treatments previously tried – response? Why discontinued?
S= severity
SUBJECTIVE DATA: Include what the patient tells you, but organize the information.
Chief Complaint (CC): In just a few words, explain why the patient came to the clinic.
History of Present Illness (HPI): This is the symptom analysis section of your note. Thorough documentation in this section is essential for patient care, coding, and billing analysis. Paint a picture of what is wrong with the patient. You need to start EVERY HPI with age, race, and gender (i.e. 34-year-old AA male). You must include the 7 attributes of each principal symptom: NURS 6512 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Template
Location
Quality
Quantity or severity
Timing, including onset, duration, and frequency
Setting in which it occurs
Factors that have aggravated or relieved the symptom
Associated manifestations
Medications: Include over the counter, vitamin, and herbal supplements. List each one by name with dosage and frequency. NURS 6512 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Template
Allergies: Include specific reactions to medications, foods, insects, and environmental factors.
Past Medical History (PMH): Include illnesses (also childhood illnesses), hospitalizations, and risky sexual behaviors.
Past Surgical History (PSH): Include dates, indications, and types of operations.
Sexual/Reproductive History: If applicable, include obstetric history, menstrual history, methods of contraception, and sexual function.
Personal/Social History: Include tobacco use, alcohol use, drug use, patient’s interests, ADL’s and IADL’s if applicable, and exercise and eating habits.
Immunization History: Include last Tdp, Flu, pneumonia, etc. NURS 6512 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Template
Significant Family History: Include history of parents, Grandparents, siblings, and children.
Lifestyle: Include cultural factors, economic factors, safety, and support systems.
Review of Systems: From head-to-toe, include each system that covers the Chief Complaint, History of Present Illness, and History (this includes the systems that address any previous diagnoses). Remember that the information you include in this section is based on what the patient tells you. You do not need to do them all unless you are doing a total H&P. To ensure that you include all essentials in your case, refer to Chapter 2 of the Sullivan text.
General: Include any recent weight changes, weakness, fatigue, or fever, but do not restate HPI data here. NURS 6512 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Template
HEENT:
Neck:
Breasts:
Respiratory:
Cardiovascular/Peripheral Vascular:
Gastrointestinal:
Genitourinary:
Musculoskeletal:
Psychiatric:
Neurological:
Skin: Include rashes, lumps, sores, itching, dryness, changes, etc.
Hematologic:
Endocrine:
Allergic/Immunologic: NURS 6512 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Template
OBJECTIVE DATA: From head-to-toe, include what you see, hear, and feel when doing your physical exam. You only need to examine the systems that are pertinent to the CC, HPI, and History unless you are doing a total H&P. Do not use WNL or normal. You must describe what you see.
Physical Exam:
Vital signs: Include vital signs, ht, wt, and BMI. NURS 6512 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Template
General: Include general state of health, posture, motor activity, and gait. This may also include dress, grooming, hygiene, odors of body or breath, facial expression, manner, level of conscience, and affect and reactions to people and things.
HEENT:
Neck:
Chest/Lungs: Always include this in your PE.
Heart/Peripheral Vascular: Always include the heart in your PE.
Abdomen:
Genital/Rectal:
Musculoskeletal:
Neurological:
Skin: NURS 6512 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Template
ASSESSMENT: List your priority diagnosis(es). For each priority diagnosis, list at least 3 differential diagnoses, each of which must be supported with evidence and guidelines. Include any labs, x-rays, or other diagnostics that are needed to develop the differential diagnoses. For holistic care, you need to include previous diagnoses and indicate whether these are controlled or not controlled. These should also be included in your treatment plan.
PLAN: This section is not required for the assignments in this course (NURS 6512), but will be required for future courses. NURS 6512 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Template
Treatment Plan: If applicable, include both pharmacological and nonpharmacological strategies, alternative therapies, follow-up recommendations, referrals, consultations, and any additional labs, x-ray, or other diagnostics. Support the treatment plan with evidence and guidelines.
Health Promotion: Include exercise, diet, and safety recommendations, as well as any other health promotion strategies for the patient/family. Support the health promotion recommendations and strategies with evidence and guidelines. NURS 6512 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Template
Disease Prevention: As appropriate for the patient’s age, include disease prevention recommendations and strategies such as fasting lipid profile, mammography, colonoscopy, immunizations, etc. Support the disease prevention recommendations and strategies with evidence and guidelines.
REFLECTION: Reflect on your clinical experience and consider the following questions: What did you learn from this experience? What would you do differently? Do you agree with your preceptor based on the evidence? NURS 6512 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Template
Shadow Health Support and Orientation Resources
Use the following resources to guide you through your Shadow Health orientation as well as other support resources:
Frey, C. [Chris Frey]. (2015, September 4). Student orientation [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfd_8pTJBkY
Shadow Health. (n.d.). Shadow Health help desk. Retrieved from https://support.shadowhealth.com/hc/en-us
Document: Shadow Health. (2014). Useful tips and tricks (Version 2) (PDF)
Document: Student Acknowledgement Form (Word document)
Note: You will sign and date this form each time you complete your DCE Assignment in Shadow Health to acknowledge your commitment to Walden University’s Code of Conduct.
Document: DCE (Shadow Health) Documentation Template for Comprehensive (Head-to-Toe) Physical Assessment (Word document)
Use this template to complete your Assignment 3 for this week.
NURS 6512 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Template Optional Resources
LeBlond, R. F., Brown, D. D., & DeGowin, R. L. (2014). DeGowin’s diagnostic examination (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Medical.
- Chapter 14, “The Neurologic Examination” (pp. 683–765)
This chapter provides an overview of the nervous system. The authors also explain the basics of neurological exams.
- Chapter 15, “Mental Status, Psychiatric, and Social Evaluations” (pp. 766–786)
In this chapter, the authors provide a list of common psychiatric syndromes. The authors also explain the mental, psychiatric, and social evaluation process.
Mahlknecht, P., Hotter, A., Hussl, A., Esterhammer, R., Schockey, M., & Seppi, K. (2010). Significance of MRI in diagnosis and differential diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Neurodegenerative Diseases, 7(5), 300–318. NURS 6512 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Template