Advanced Health Assessment & Clinical Diagnosis in Primary Care

Take the next step in health assessment by building your skills in diagnostic and clinical reasoning! Advanced Health Assessment and Clinical Diagnosis in Primary Care, 7th Edition goes beyond the basic physical examination to help you learn to accurately evaluate common conditions. Organized by patient symptoms or complaints, the book follows a systematic approach beginning with a chief concern rather than a specific diagnosis or disease entity, then guides you step-by-step through a diagnostic reasoning process to lead to a clinical diagnosis. This edition includes new chapters on veterans' health and on contemporary approaches in primary care settings, as well as updated content on issues such as race, ethnicity, and gender identity. Written by a team of advanced practitioners led by Joyce E. Dains, this AJN award-winning text helps you learn to think like an expert clinician.



Clear, consistent diagnostic reasoning process takes you to the next step of health assessment - beyond basic history and physical examination to diagnostic reasoning and clinical diagnosis.
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 tests 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.
UNIQUE! Care of Transgender and Gender-Diverse (TGD) Patients chapter equips you with the necessary knowledge to properly assess and care for this underserved patient population.
Content on pediatrics is integrated throughout to give a true lifespan focus.
Information on screening for abuse and sexual assault helps you identify patients who might need additional support or intervention.
Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines chapter helps you to screen for common asymptomatic conditions and promote wellness.
Information on screening for abuse and sexual assault helps identify patients who might need additional support or intervention.
List of Chapters by Body System inside the front cover provides an alternate means of accessing book content.
Compact, convenient size makes it easy to carry this reference in a lab-coat pocket, and colored thumb tabs make it easier to find the information you need.
Advanced Practice Nursing (APN) content on advanced assessment serves as a perfect complement to Ball et al.: Seidel's Guide to Physical Examination and other health assessment textbooks.



NEW! Updated content throughout reflects the latest evidence-based approaches to clinical diagnosis and diagnostic reasoning.
NEW and UNIQUE! Contemporary Approaches in Primary Care Settings chapter applies public health principles to primary care in the era of COVID-19, and also includes coverage of telehealth/telemedicine, screenings, immunizations, epidemics and pandemics, health promotion, basic epidemiological terminology, and the cultural-spiritual-holistic context of primary care.
NEW! Updated content on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity includes special sensitivity to healthcare inequality related to social determinants of health.
NEW and UNIQUE! Veterans' Health chapter covers the health concerns of veterans, such as military sexual trauma (MST) and hazardous exposures.
NEW and UNIQUE! Scrotal Pain and Masses chapter addresses this common problem seen in primary care settings.
NEW! Updated Evidence-Based Practice boxes summarize the latest scientific literature related to the diagnosis of patient problems.