Nurses conducting assessments of the ears, nose, and throat must be able to identify the small differences between life-threatening conditions and benign ones. For instance, if a pat

Nurses conducting assessments of the ears, nose, and throat must be able to identify the small differences between life-threatening conditions and benign ones. For instance, if a patient with a sore throat and a runny nose also has inflamed lymph nodes, the inflammation is probably due to the pathogen causing the sore throat rather than a case of throat cancer. With this knowledge and a sufficient patient health history, a nurse would not need to escalate the assessment to a biopsy or an MRI of the lymph nodes but would probably perform a simple strep test.

Most ear, nose, and throat conditions that arise in non-critical care settings are minor in nature. However, subtle symptoms can sometimes escalate into life-threatening conditions that require prompt assessment and treatment.

 Amy, a 3 year old girl is brought to your office by her mother because she has a fever and complains that her ear hurts. She has no significant medical history. The child is not pleased to be in the provider's office and has been crying. Her mother explains that she developed a “cold” about 3 days ago with sniffles. As she cries she continues to cough and has yellowish nasal discharge.  

Attention………Remember that your Case Study Assignment should be in the Episodic/Focused SOAP Note format rather than the traditional narrative style format. Refer to Chapter 2 of the Sullivan text and the Episodic/Focused SOAP Template in the Week 5 Learning Resources for guidance. Remember that all Episodic/Focused SOAP Notes have specific data included in every patient case. 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.