NR569 Differential
Diagnosis in Acute Care
Midterm 2026 | Q&A &
Detailed Rationales
|Graded A+ | Guaranteed
success|
Updated 2026 Questions and Answers
100% Verified Exam Prep and Comprehensive
Rationales
Included
, Components of Comprehensive Adult Health History - Initial information (Identifying patient information/source/reliability)
- Chief Complaint(s)
- History of Present Illness
- Past Medical History
- Family History
- Personal/Social History
- Review of Systems (ROS)
SNAPPS method - Summarize the history and findings.
- Narrow the differential diagnosis to two to three possibilities.
- Analyze the differential by comparing and contrasting the possibilities.
- Probe the preceptor by asking questions about alternative approaches or
uncertainties.
- Plan the management of the patient's health issues.
- Select an issue from the case for self-directed learning.
Creating a Differential Diagnosis - The differential diagnosis process involves using clinical reasoning to distinguish
Hoofbeats = Horses NOT Zebras between two or more conditions that share similar signs and symptoms. Based on
the CC the NP gathers information through PMH (subjective data) and physical
examination (objective data) to establish a broad list of common & uncommon
diagnosis. As the provider collects more data, competing hypotheses are either
confirmed, disproved, or their priority changes.
Steps for Creating a Differential Diagnosis 1. Initially start with a broad list of diagnoses until further information or data is
obtained.
2. List your top diagnosis FIRST followed by other potential diagnoses for a
specific problem *but keep it problem oriented until you have an actual
diagnosis.*
3. Aggressively prioritize work up of the most likely and most harmful (ie, life
threatening) diagnoses under consideration.
4. Prioritize the work up of ACUTE and REVERSIBLE diseases followed by
CHRONIC and IRREVERSIBLE (eg, delirium r/t a medical cause vs. chronic,
progressive dementia).
5. As information or data that effectively rules out a particular diagnosis for a chief
complaint becomes available, remove that diagnosis from your list & focus your
attention on remaining possibilities.
6. Once a diagnosis has been confirmed, the problem list should be diagnosis-
oriented rather than problem-oriented.
Pertinent Positive - Symptoms or signs that are present that you would expect to find if a possible
cause for for a patient's problem were true, which then supports the diagnosis.
Pertinent Negative Expected symptoms or signs that are not present, facts that you would expect to
find if a possible cause for a patient's problem were true, which then weaken this
diagnosis by their absence.
Diagnosis in Acute Care
Midterm 2026 | Q&A &
Detailed Rationales
|Graded A+ | Guaranteed
success|
Updated 2026 Questions and Answers
100% Verified Exam Prep and Comprehensive
Rationales
Included
, Components of Comprehensive Adult Health History - Initial information (Identifying patient information/source/reliability)
- Chief Complaint(s)
- History of Present Illness
- Past Medical History
- Family History
- Personal/Social History
- Review of Systems (ROS)
SNAPPS method - Summarize the history and findings.
- Narrow the differential diagnosis to two to three possibilities.
- Analyze the differential by comparing and contrasting the possibilities.
- Probe the preceptor by asking questions about alternative approaches or
uncertainties.
- Plan the management of the patient's health issues.
- Select an issue from the case for self-directed learning.
Creating a Differential Diagnosis - The differential diagnosis process involves using clinical reasoning to distinguish
Hoofbeats = Horses NOT Zebras between two or more conditions that share similar signs and symptoms. Based on
the CC the NP gathers information through PMH (subjective data) and physical
examination (objective data) to establish a broad list of common & uncommon
diagnosis. As the provider collects more data, competing hypotheses are either
confirmed, disproved, or their priority changes.
Steps for Creating a Differential Diagnosis 1. Initially start with a broad list of diagnoses until further information or data is
obtained.
2. List your top diagnosis FIRST followed by other potential diagnoses for a
specific problem *but keep it problem oriented until you have an actual
diagnosis.*
3. Aggressively prioritize work up of the most likely and most harmful (ie, life
threatening) diagnoses under consideration.
4. Prioritize the work up of ACUTE and REVERSIBLE diseases followed by
CHRONIC and IRREVERSIBLE (eg, delirium r/t a medical cause vs. chronic,
progressive dementia).
5. As information or data that effectively rules out a particular diagnosis for a chief
complaint becomes available, remove that diagnosis from your list & focus your
attention on remaining possibilities.
6. Once a diagnosis has been confirmed, the problem list should be diagnosis-
oriented rather than problem-oriented.
Pertinent Positive - Symptoms or signs that are present that you would expect to find if a possible
cause for for a patient's problem were true, which then supports the diagnosis.
Pertinent Negative Expected symptoms or signs that are not present, facts that you would expect to
find if a possible cause for a patient's problem were true, which then weaken this
diagnosis by their absence.
