Assessment Techniques- Ch 8 Flashcards
Inspection
👀
The very first step in the assessment process
Careful, thorough observation
Palpation ✋🏻
Using your sense of touch
Cannot detect disease state of an organ but can detect an abnormality
-swelling, vibration pulsation lump mass tenderness
Light palpation
Used to detect surface characteristics
Deep palpation
Use pressure to examine abdominal contents
Palpation techniques
Slow and systematic
Palpate tender or painful areas last
Always begin with light then move to Deep
Flow of palpitation
Top to bottom
Left to right
Simultaneously
Compare symmetrically
Crepitence ?
Cracking or popping of joints (knee)
Palpation techniques with the hand
Fingertips: texture, swelling, pulse, vibration
Grasping: shape, size, position of organ
Base of fingers: vibration
Dorsum of hand: temperature changes
Bimanually: lymph nodes
Common areas of palpation
Lymph nodes Sinus cavities Abdomen Spine Pulses Uterus Heart
Percussion 👉🏻
Tapping the skin with short stokes that produce a vibration to assess underlying structures
- sound depicts size location and density of an organ
- density: will change as you percussion over air, fluid or solid
- mass: can be detected up to 5cm deep
- pain: detect underlying inflammation
- tendon: deep tendon reflex
Percussion notes
Resonance: lungs, hollow clear sounds Hyperresonat: child, copd Tympany: over abdomen (drum) Dull: organs, liver Flat: bones, muscle Amplitude can be loud of soft
Auscultation 👂🏻
Using a stethoscope
Diaphragm- used to detect high pitched sound (lungs, heart, abdomen)
-place firmly
Bell: to detect low pitched sounds (vascular, extra heart sounds)
-place lightly
Never listen thru clothes
For the elderly
Slower pace
Consider visual and heating impairments
May need rest between exam parts
Diaphragm of stethoscope..
Is used to detect high pitched Sounds (lungs, abdomen, heart)
Place firmly
Bell of the stethoscope..
Is used to hear low pitched sounds (vascular sounds, extra heart sounds)
Place lightly
