Purpose: The concept of differential diagnosis is not new to the WOC Nurse. This process is applied to each of the WOC specialities. However, the application of differential diagnosis of stomal and peristomal complications has not been noted in the literature nor formally recognized. This poster will demostrate the application of differential diagnosis to stomal and peristomal complications.

Objective: Differential diagnosis the systematic elimination of like disease processes with similar signs and symptoms. While widely utilized and accepted as a standard of practice in advanced practice nursing and medicine, it has not been applied in a similar manner to the WOC nurse practice. One of the hurdles to overcome before this process can be implemented, is the realization of the WOC nurse that they are making a diagnosis. This diagnosis process is performed multiple times by the WOC nurse without acknowledgement of the process, for example, if the WOC nurse treats a condition such as peristomal skin candidiasis, they first must either formally or unconsciously make the diagnosis that the patient has peristomal candidiasis. In addition, the similar differential diagnosis of folliculitis has been ruled out prior to implementation of interventions for the peristomal candidiasis.

Outcome: This poster will demonstrate how the process of differential diagnosis is applied to stomal and peristomal complications. The application of the differential diagnosis will help the WOC nurse to make correct diagnosis and implement the correct interventions in a timely systematic process.