Assessment Techniques

Question 1

Inspection

Answer 1

concentrated watching

Question 2

Palpation

Answer 2

sense of touch to assess: pain or tenderness, texture, temperature, moisture, organ location and size, swelling, vibration or pulsation, rigidity or spasticity, crepitation, lumps/masses

Question 3

Percussion

Answer 3

tapping the person’s skin to assess underlying structures, map out organs size and density

Question 4

Auscultation

Answer 4

listening to sounds produced by the body, such as heart, blood vessels, lungs, abdominal

Question 5

Diaphragm

Answer 5

flat edge, for high pitched sounds

Question 6

Bell

Answer 6

deep, hollow, cup-like shape for soft low pitch sounds

Question 7

Resonant

Answer 7

medium-loud, low pitch, clear, hollow, moderate duration

e.g. over normal lung tissue

Question 8

Hyperresonant

Answer 8

louder, lower pitch, booming quality, longer duration

e.g. over normal child’s lung tissue, abnormal in adults in lungs indicating emphysema

Question 9

Tympany

Answer 9

loud, high pitch, musical and drum-like, sustained longest

e.g. over air-filled viscus (stomach or intestines)

Question 10

Dull

Answer 10

soft, high pitch, muffled thud, short

e.g. relatively dense organ like liver or spleen

Question 11

Flat

Answer 11

very soft, high pitch, dead stop of sound, absolute dullness, very short duration
e.g. when no air is present over thigh muscles, bone or tumor

Question 12

BP is determined by…

Answer 12

Cardiac output, peripheral vascular resistance, volume of blood, viscosity of the blood, elasticity of the vessels