Description
Case study: Back pain A 42-year-old male reports pain in his lower back for the past month. The pain sometimes radiates to his left leg. In determining the cause of the back pain, based on your knowledge of anatomy, what nerve roots might be involved? How would you test for each of them? What other symptoms need to be explored? What are your differential diagnoses for acute low back pain? Consider the possible origins using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) guidelines as a framework. What physical examination will you perform? What special maneuvers will you perform? The Assignment Post an episodic/focused note about the patient in the case study to which you were assigned using the episodic/focused note template provided in the resources. Provide evidence from the literature to support diagnostic tests that would be appropriate for each case. List five different possible conditions for the patient’s differential diagnosis and justify why you selected each.
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Episodic/Focused SOAP Note Template
Patient Information:
Initials, Age, Sex, Race
S.
CC (chief complaint) a BRIEF statement identifying why the patient is here – in the patient’s
own words – for instance “headache”, NOT “bad headache for 3 days”.
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. Use LOCATES Mnemonic to complete your HPI. You need to start EVERY HPI with
age, race, and gender (e.g., 34-year-old AA male). You must include the seven attributes of each
principal symptom in paragraph form not a list. If the CC was “headache”, the LOCATES for the
HPI might look like the following example:
Location: head
Onset: 3 days ago
Character: pounding, pressure around the eyes and temples
Associated signs and symptoms: nausea, vomiting, photophobia, phonophobia
Timing: after being on the computer all day at work
Exacerbating/ relieving factors: light bothers eyes, Aleve makes it tolerable but not
completely better
Severity: 7/10 pain scale
Current Medications: include dosage, frequency, length of time used and reason for use; also
include OTC or homeopathic products.
Allergies: include medication, food, and environmental allergies separately (a description of
what the allergy is ie angioedema, anaphylaxis, etc. This will help determine a true reaction vs
intolerance).
PMHx: include immunization status (note date of last tetanus for all adults), past major
illnesses and surgeries. Depending on the CC, more info is sometimes needed
Soc Hx: include occupation and major hobbies, family status, tobacco & alcohol use (previous
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and current use), any other pertinent data. Always add some health promo question here – such as
whether they use seat belts all the time or whether they have working smoke detectors in the
house, living environment, text/cell phone use while driving, and support system.
Fam Hx: illnesses with possible genetic predisposition, contagious or chronic illnesses. Reason
for death of any deceased first degree relatives should be included. Include parents, grandparents,
siblings, and children. Include grandchildren if pertinent.
ROS: cover all body systems that may help you include or rule out a differential diagnosis You
should list each system as follows: General: Head: EENT: etc. You should list these in bullet
format and document the systems in order from head to toe.
Example of Complete ROS:
GENERAL: Denies weight loss, fever, chills, weakness or fatigue.
HEENT: Eyes: Denies visual loss, blurred vision, double vision or yellow sclerae. Ears, Nose,
Throat: Denies hearing loss, sneezing, congestion, runny nose or sore throat.
SKIN: Denies rash or itching.
CARDIOVASCULAR: Denies chest pain, chest pressure or chest discomfort. No palpitations or
edema.
RESPIRATORY: Denies shortness of breath, cough or sputum.
GASTROINTESTINAL: Denies anorexia, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. No abdominal pain or
blood.
GENITOURINARY: Burning on urination. Pregnancy. Last menstrual period, MM/DD/YYYY.
NEUROLOGICAL: Denies headache, dizziness, syncope, paralysis, ataxia, numbness or
tingling in the extremities. No change in bowel or bladder control.
MUSCULOSKELETAL: Denies muscle, back pain, joint pain or stiffness.
HEMATOLOGIC: Denies anemia, bleeding or bruising.
LYMPHATICS: Denies enlarged nodes. No history of splenectomy.
PSYCHIATRIC: Denies history of depression or anxiety.
ENDOCRINOLOGIC: Denies reports of sweating, cold or heat intolerance. No polyuria or
polydipsia.
ALLERGIES: Denies history of asthma, hives, eczema or rhinitis.
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O.
Physical exam: 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. Do not use “WNL” or “normal.” You must describe what you see. Always
document in head to toe format i.e. General: Head: EENT: etc.
Diagnostic results: Include any labs, x-rays, or other diagnostics that are needed to develop the
differential diagnoses (support with evidenced and guidelines)
A.
Differential Diagnoses (list a minimum of 3 differential diagnoses).Your primary or
presumptive diagnosis should be at the top of the list. For each diagnosis, provide supportive
documentation with evidence based guidelines.
P.
This section is not required for the assignments in this course (NURS 6512) but will be required
for future courses.
References
You are required to include at least three evidence based peer-reviewed journal articles or
evidenced based guidelines which relates to this case to support your diagnostics and
differentials diagnoses. Be sure to use correct APA 7th edition formatting.
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