Module 1: Introduction & Overview of NP Role in LTC

1.7.4 Health Assessment and Diagnosis

The NP works collaboratively with clients to identify & mitigate health risks, promote understanding of health issues & support healthy behaviours and includes:

  • Performs a focused/comprehensive health assessment usings & adapting tools and techniques based on client needs & life stage
  • Performs a complete/focused health history appropriate to situation including physical, psychosocial, emotional, ethnic, cultural & spiritual dimensions
  • Performs a complete/focused physical examination & identifies & interprets normal/abnormal findings
  • Synthesizes health assessment information using critical inquiry & clinical reasoning to diagnoses health risks & states of health/illness
  • Formulates differential diagnoses through integration of client information & evidence informed practice
  • Anticipates & diagnosis emergent, urgent & life threatening situations
  • Orders and/or performs screening & diagnostic investigations, interprets results using evidence informed clinical reasoning & critical inquiry & assumes responsibility for follow up
  • Diagnosis diseases, disorders, injuries & conditions & identifies health needs, while considering client’s response to health/illness
  • Communicates with clients about health assessment findings and/or diagnosis, including outcomes & prognosis[1]

  1. Canadian Nurses Association, 2010

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Nurse Practitioners Delivering Primary Care in the Long Term Care Setting Copyright © 2024 by Erin Ziegler, Carrie Heer and Adhiba Nilormi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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