Advanced Health Assessment & Clinical Diagnosis in Primary Care

Take the €˜next step€ in health assessment! Advanced Health Assessment and Clinical Diagnosis in Primary Care, 5th Edition goes beyond basic history and physical examination to help you master the diagnostic reasoning process. You€ll develop this key skill by following assessment guidelines that focus on a specific complaint rather than beginning with a previously established diagnosis or disease entity. Written by advanced practice nursing experts Joyce Dains, Linda Baumann, and Pamela Scheibel, this edition includes new chapters on evidence-based preventive health screening and on heartburn and indigestion, along with a new full-color design. Master the differential diagnosis process outlined in this book, and you€ll be able to accurately diagnose the majority of patients seen in today€s primary care settings.

• A clear, consistent diagnostic reasoning process takes you to the next step of health assessment ۥ beyond basic history and physical examination to diagnostic reasoning.
• Diagnostic Reasoning: Focused History sections use €˜self-questions€ to walk you through the thinking process involved in obtaining a pertinent, relevant, problem-specific history that will assist in differential diagnosis.
• Diagnostic Reasoning: Focused Physical Examination sections explain how to perform more advanced diagnostic techniques and interpret the findings.
• Key Questions guide you through assessment and toward an accurate diagnosis by listing questions to ask the patient, followed by explanations of what the patient's responses might signify.
• Laboratory and Diagnostic Studies sections outline the types of studies that might be appropriate based on the focused history and focused physical examination.
• Differential Diagnosis sections offer the most common diagnoses for each patient problem and summarize the history and physical examination findings, along with recommended laboratory and diagnostic studies.
• Differential Diagnosis tables provide a quick-reference summary of possible diagnoses for each patient problem.
• Evidence-Based Practice boxes ۥ more than 30 are NEW ۥ summarize the scientific evidence related to the diagnosis of patient problems.
• Alphabetical Table of Contents provides a convenient listing of common health problems.

• NEW Evidence-Based Preventive Health Screening chapter helps you screen for common asymptomatic conditions and promote wellness.
• NEW Heartburn and Indigestion chapter addresses this common condition and includes important differential diagnoses such as myocardial infarction and cancer of the esophagus.
• NEW! Separate chapters on limb pain divide the topic by lower extremities and upper extremities, offering more focused, easy-to-locate coverage.
• NEW! Information on screening for abuse and sexual assault helps in identifying patients who might need additional support or intervention.
• NEW! Updated information on psychiatric/mental health problems reflects the latest changes in practice as well as changes to the DSM.
• NEW! More than 20 NEW illustrations enhance content and a full-color design makes topics easier to find.