NR 576 Midterm - Adult Gerontology Questions and Answers

1. What is a differential diagnosis?
   • Answer: Using clinical reasoning to distinguish between similar conditions.
2. What is deductive clinical reasoning strategy?
   • Answer: Analyzing and synthesizing clinical data related to the patient’s presentation.
3. What is the first step in deductive clinical reasoning strategy?
   • Answer: Starting with general information from the chief complaint.
4. What is the next step in deductive clinical reasoning strategy?
   • Answer: Moving to more specific information collected through the history of present illness.
5. How can open-ended questions be used in deductive clinical reasoning strategy?
   • Answer: To gain information utilizing OLDCARTS.
6. What is evidence-based research?
   • Answer: Research based on clinical trials or case studies.
7. What is required for evidence-based research?
   • Answer: Evidence of benefit to the patient.

1. What are guidelines?
   • Answer: Practice recommendations issued by professional organizations.
2. How should guidelines be developed?
   • Answer: Rigorously and trustworthily.
3. What is the basic structure of the clinical reasoning process?
   • Answer: Gathering initial patient information, organizing and interpreting information, generating hypotheses, testing hypotheses, planning diagnostic and treatment strategy.
4. What is the first step in the clinical reasoning process?
   • Answer: Gathering initial patient information (health history and physical).
5. What is the second step in the clinical reasoning process?
   • Answer: Organizing and interpreting information to synthesize the problem.
6. What is the third step in the clinical reasoning process?
   • Answer: Generating hypotheses.
7. What is the fourth step in the clinical reasoning process?
   • Answer: Testing hypotheses until a working diagnosis is selected.