Assessment Tools and Diagnostic Tests in Adults and Children Essay

Assessment Tools and Diagnostic Tests in Adults and Children Essay

Assessment Tools and Diagnostic Tests in Adults and Children Essay

Assessment tests and tools play an important role in the diagnosis of various diseases conditions in both adults and children. In adults, the role of protein-specific antigen test vis-à-vis the diagnosis of prostate cancer cannot be underestimated. According to statistics, prostate cancer afflicts more people from the age of 65 and above in the United States (Adhyam & Gupta, 2012). Further, genetics play a role in the prevalence of the disease as more African-Americans have been found with the condition compared to their white counterparts whereas family history also predisposes men to it. Given that prostate cancer can advance either slowly or rapidly, screening plays an important role in its management. The purpose of this paper therefore is to examine the prostate-specific antigen test from the provided list of tools.

Description of the Tool

            Prostate cancer is primarily screened through a blood-test referred to as the prostate-specific antigen-test (PSA). PSA is thus the biomarker for prostate cancer and is actually a protein produced by both malignant and non-malignant tissues in the affected region. The PSA test works through drawing of blood from a patient’s artery or vein, which will be sent to the laboratory for

examination (Adhyam & Gupta, 2012). If the level of the PSA in the blood sample is more than 4 mg/ml, then cancer could be diagnosed. However, the utilization of this PSA level is still shrouded in controversy since such results may also indicate the presence of other diseases such as inflamed or enlarged prostate. Thus, in order to truly conclude the presence of prostate cancer, additional tests such as biopsy, ultrasound, prostate exams and even the recent multiparametric-prostate-magnetic resonance imagining (MP-MRI) become necessary (Stamatakis & Pinto, 2014).

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PSA Test’s Validity, Reliability, Sensitivities, and Predictive Values

The validity of the PSA Test for screening cancer patients has always been a subject of discussion. Whereas the test is valid when it comes to cancer screening, particularly in early stages, its overall validity does not inspire confidence since its effect on mortality has not been determined (Leal, Welton, & Martin, 2018). Further, the PSA test’s reliability has also been called into question. Whereas the tool can detect abnormal levels of PSA in the blood, it does not offer an accurate diagnostic information concerning the state of one’s prostate. Thus, one needs to adopt the usage of other tests in order to achieve this objective. Also, it is not useful in screening early stages of this cancer as mentioned above without proving useful for late stage prostate cancer.

Moreover, the usage of PSA test has been characterized by diametrically different opinions from doctors and studies. For instance, while the tool has provided early detection of prostate cancer, its usefulness as regards saving lives has no clear cut answer. Also, the existence of the PSA levels of more than 4mg/ml has generated controversy in the scientific circles as it does not necessarily appear as a biomarker for prostate cancer (Laine, 2012).  Recommendations have also been made to use the upper range of values of normal when it comes to PSA for older adults. However, this only serves to reduce the sensitivity of the PSA tool for older adults’ prostate screening. Therefore, whereas the PSA cut off 4 ng/mL has expressed low sensitivities in studies, its specificity has increased as incidences.

see class rules
cite scholarly resources including peer-review journals and current practice guidelines
 Please, all bullets points, bold, red and highlighted area must be attended to.
 A clear purpose statement (The purpose of this paper is to…) is required in the introduction of all writings

For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.

Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.

Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?

Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.

Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.

If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.

I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.

As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.

Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• Student paper example
• Citing Sources
• The Writing Center is a great resource