NURS 6521 Differential Diagnosis for Skin Conditions Lab Report 2

Assignment 1: Lab Assignment: Differential Diagnosis for Skin Conditions

Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Differential diagnosis is a process of elimination used to correctly determine the origin and type of a patient’s skin problem. A health practitioner can use this procedure to narrow down a collection of physical abnormalities, vital signs, health assessment findings, and patient accounts of symptoms until one diagnosis is selected as the most likely reason.

In this Lab Assignment, you will explore numerous visual representations of skin disorders, explain your observations, and utilize differential diagnostic procedures to establish the most likely condition.

TO PREPARE

Review the Skin Conditions document provided in this week’s Learning Resources, and select one condition to closely examine for this Lab Assignment.
Consider the abnormal physical characteristics you observe in the graphic you selected. How would you describe the characteristics using clinical terminologies?
Explore different conditions that could be the cause of the skin abnormalities in the graphics you selected. NURS 6521 Differential Diagnosis for Skin Conditions Lab Report 2
Consider which of the conditions is most likely to be the correct diagnosis, and why.
Search the Walden library for one evidence-based practice, peer-reviewed article based on the skin condition you chose for this Lab Assignment.
Review the Comprehensive SOAP Exemplar found in this week’s Learning Resources to guide you as you prepare your SOAP note.
Download the SOAP Template found in this week’s Learning Resources, and use this template to complete this Lab Assignment.

THE LAB ASSIGNMENT

Choose one skin condition graphic (identify by number in your Chief Complaint) to document your assignment in the SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan) note format rather than the traditional narrative style. Refer to Chapter 2 of the Sullivan text and the Comprehensive SOAP Template in this week’s Learning Resources for guidance. Remember that not all comprehensive SOAP data are included in every patient case.
Use clinical terminologies to explain the physical characteristics featured in the graphic. Formulate a differential diagnosis of three to five possible conditions for the skin graphic that you chose. Determine which is most likely to be the correct diagnosis and explain your reasoning using at least three different references, one reference from current evidence-based literature from your search and two different references from this week’s Learning Resources. NURS 6521 Differential Diagnosis for Skin Conditions Lab Report 2