Description
Differential Diagnosis for Skin Conditions
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 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 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.
Download the SOAP Template found in this week’s Learning Resources.
To complete: 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 3 different references from current evidence based literature.
Explanation & Answer
Attached.
Comprehensive SOAP- Outline
Thesis Statement: The patient showed up complaining of itchy dry skin on parts of his body.
She showed patches of dry skin with shiny scales where red patches had developed.
I. Subjective data
A. CC
B. HPI
C. Review of systems
II. Objective data
A. Physical examination
B. Vital signs
C. General
III. Assessment
A. Lab tests and results
B. Diagnostics
C. Differential diagnosis
Attached.
Comprehensive SOAP
Patient Initials: _H W______
Age: __25_____
Gender: ___F____
SUBJECTIVE DATA:
Chief Complaint (CC): pink-red dry skin patches and itchiness
History of Present Illness (HPI): HW is a 25-year-old Caucasian female who presents with
itchy dry skin and pink-red patches on parts of her body. She showed patches of dry skin with
shiny scales where red patches had developed. She claimed that the illness presented around
three days ago and the patient had just returned from camping and noted that she was itchy. The
patches developed after the itchiness and she has reported to the clinic since she believes that
they are getting worse than better with time.
25-year-old W Female
Location: Scalp and back. The patient presents with the scaly skin especially at the
hairline and her scalp as well. Her back also presents an extensive region where the scaly
skin and the apparent infection are severe. The condition presents in the lower back as
well as the elbows where the raised patches of red skin are coated with silver scales.
Onset: 3 days ago. The client reports that she first noted the itchy scales about three days
ago. However, the presenting symptoms could have been older than three days and could
go back to around a week ago. From the appearance of the scales and the patches, the
infection must have be...
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