Question

4. List the four Physical Assessment Techniques and describe each. 5. Describe the process of performing an abdominal Assessment 6. Nursing Assessment may be organized by Head to Toe or System by System. What is the advantage of the Head to Toe method? 7. Describe the term Level of Consciousness (LOC). 8. What blood tests are included in the Complete Blood Count (CBC) and describe each.

Answer 1

4).

As a part of the physical examination, the physician uses different procedures of inspection. During this process, the physician identifies the physical features of the patient, such as general appearance. The four methods of physical assessment are,

• Patient inspection
• Auscultation
• Percussion
• Palpation

Inspection – Observing the subject to identify the physical features or objective data

Auscultation – It is using a stethoscope to hear to sounds of the heart, lungs, and intestine. Auscultation is typically performed to examine the functioning of heart and lungs and intestinal organs. For example, heart sounds can be observed by auscultation.

Palpation – Palpation is a process in which a body part is pressed with fingers to examine an enlarged organ, to detect a mass, to test the occurrence of pain or to examine the tenderness. For example, pressing the stomach with fingers is known as “palpation.”

Percussion – Tapping the body to identify the vibratory sensations, for example, percussion of the chest to examine the presence of fluids in the lung