Differential Diagnosis for Skin Conditions

Assignment 1: Lab Assignment: Differential Diagnosis
for Skin Conditions
Photo
Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Properly identifying the
cause and type of a patient’s skin 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, and patient descriptions of symptoms, and incrementally narrow them
down until one diagnosis is determined as the most likely cause.
In this Lab Assignment, you
will examine several visual representations of various skin conditions,
describe your observations, and use the techniques of differential diagnosis to
determine 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.
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.

SKIN
CONDITION ABOVE IS # 2. It looks like
Striae gravidarum, or striae nigrae. Please do your research.

Sorry, I couldn’t paste the picture. Let me describe it: there are stech marks on the abdomen of a pregnant woman.

Shadow Health Comprehensive
SOAP Note Template

Patient Initials:
_______ Age:
_______ Gender:
_______

SUBJECTIVE DATA:

Chief Complaint (CC):

History of Present Illness
(HPI):

Medications:

Allergies:

Past Medical History (PMH):

Past Surgical History (PSH):

Sexual/Reproductive History:

Personal/Social History:

Health Maintenance:

Immunization History:

Significant Family History:

Review of Systems:

General:
HEENT:
Respiratory:
Cardiovascular/Peripheral Vascular:
Gastrointestinal:
Genitourinary:
Musculoskeletal:
Neurological:
Psychiatric:
Skin/hair/nails:

OBJECTIVE DATA:

Physical Exam:
Vital signs:
General:
HEENT:
Neck:
Chest/Lungs:.
Heart/Peripheral Vascular:
Abdomen:
Genital/Rectal:
Musculoskeletal:
Neurological:
Skin:

Diagnostic results:

ASSESSMENT:

Last Completed Projects