IM1- Exam 3 Material Flashcards
Before you begin your head-to-toe assessment what are some things you should consider?
Age group
organization of the assessment
What is the single most important neuro assessment component?
LOC–> level of consciousness
Why is the level of consciousness one of the most important components of the neuro exam?
It is often the first clue of a deteriorating condition.
When we are testing LOC what are some of the things we are looking for?
Alert: attentive, follows commands, if asleep - wakes promptly and remains attentive
lethargic: Drowsy but awakens, slow to respond
obtunded: difficult to arouse, need constant stimulation
stuporous/semi-comatose: arouses only to vigorous/noxious stimuli
comatose: no response to verbal or noxious stimuli, no movement except deep tendon reflex.
When should you start looking/testing for LOC?
The moment you walk into the patients room.
True or false: there is special testing for observing a patients LOC
False
What is cognitive awareness?
Finding out if the patient is oriented to person,place, time and event
What is cognitive awareness also known as?
Mentation
What questions can we ask to test a patient cognitive awareness?
- What is your name and DOB?
- Where are you right now?
-What year/day is it? - What has brought you to the hospital?
When asking a patient their name and date of birth you are testing that they are oriented to what?
Person
When asking a patient where they are you are testing that they are oriented to what?
Place
When asking a patient what year/day it is you are testing that they are oriented to what?
Time
Why is asking a patient what day it is not as effective as asking what year when testing their cognitive awareness?
Often times when a patient is in the hospital an extended period of time patients become confused.
When testing Cranial nerves III, IV and VI what are we testing for?
Pupil response and cardinal gaze
When we are assessing pupil responses what are things we are assessing
size and shape of pupils and compare to scale
How do we do our pen light exam when assessing pupil response?
1.Start at ear with penlight and move in toward nose
2. Note change in size and speed and reaction
3. With penlight off, move penlight close to and away from pupils
How do we do our pen light exam when assessing the cardinal gaze
- use tip of unlit penlight
- have patient follow with eyes only
- about 9-12” from face, move the end of penlight in an H motion
How can we test cranial nerve VII?
Ask the patient to smile and show teeth
Ask patient to wrinkle forehead or raise eyebrows
What could be the reason a patient is unable to wrinkle their forehead or raise there eyebrows
They have had botox
What could you detect when asking a patient to smile showing teeth?
Facial Droop
How can we have a patient test cranial nerve XII?
-Ask patient to touch the roof of mouth with tongue
- protrude tongue out of mouth
- move tongue side to side
How can we test cranial nerve Xl?
-Place hands lightly on patient shoulder
-Ask the patient to shrug shoulders
Remember– you do not need to put all your weight down just enough to have a small amount of resistance.
True or False: Testing motor function is part of both the neuro and musculoskeletal assessments?
True- Remember we will complete the motor function as part of our neuro exam
What are ways we test a patients motor function?
- hand grasp & toe wiggle (HGTW)
- Flexion and extension w/resistance
When we are testing hand grasp, toe wiggle, flexion and extension during our motor function exam we want to perform this exam bilaterally on _____ and _____
Bilateral upper extremity (BUE)) and bilateral lower extremity (BLE)
True or false: We want a patient to have a weak grip during our motor function test?
False
What are the 7 components of the Neuro assessment?
- LOC and orientation
- Pupil response and Cardinal gaze
- Smile and show teeth, raise eyebrows
- tongue to roof of mouth, out, side to side
- shoulder strength with resistance
6.HGTW
7.Flexion/extension BUE and BLE
What are the 3 normal sounds of the lungs?
- Vesicular- Periphery of the lungs
- Bronchovesicular- closer to the sternum
- Bronchial- over trachea
True or false: different areas of the lungs have different qualities of sound?
True
What are some abnormal or adventitious lung sounds?
- Crackles or rales–> can be fine or course
- Rhonchi
3.Wheezes - Pleural friction rub
Describe what a crackle or rale may sound like?
Similar to milk being poured over rice crispies
high pitch
Where are you likely to hear crackles or rales in your patient
base of the lung
What is one of the most common causes for crackles or rales in your patient?
Fluid collection in lung
Describe the lung sound– Rhonchi
Rumble
Where are you likely to hear rhonchi and why?
Over the trachea and bronchi due to large secretions in the airway
What typically helps eliminate rhonchi lung sounds?
Having the patient cough.
Describe the lung sound– Wheezing
High pitched musical sound
Is wheezing more common during inhalation or exhalation?
Exhalation– HOWEVER in really severe cases it can be heard during inhalation
What are some common causes of wheezing?
Asthma, COPD, emphysema
Describe the lung sound: Pleural Friction Rub
Like a piece of cloth moving over a mic
Why might a patient have pleural friction rub lung sound?
They may not have fluid between the plural cavity and lung, so it is being rubbed together.
Name some abnormal respiratory patterns
- Bradypnea
2.Tachypnea - apnea-
4.Hypernea (breathing in more air than you normally do) - Kussmaul’s (fast, deep breaths that occur in response to metabolic acidosis)
- Cheyne- stokes (periodic breathing— gradual increase then decrease in breathing followed by a period of apnea)
Take this time to review pattern of auscultation (sorry guys I am too broke to pay to add pictures lol)
take this time to review pattern of auscultation
Why is there seven auscultation spots on the anterior side of the body?
Because there is another lobe on the right side.
For each area that you auscultate for breath sounds how long should you listen for?
1 inspiration and expiration
When auscultating for lung sounds should you ever go below the ribs?
No- because you have passed the lungs at that point
What are the two components of the Respiratory assessment?
- Anterior and posterior lung sounds
- Clubbing
What is the Lub of heart sounds?
Systole or S1 and is the sound associated with the closing of the mirtal/tricuspid valves
What is the Dub of hear sounds?
Diastole or S2 and is the sound associated with the closing of the aortic/pulmonic valves
Describe the pauses between the lub s1 and dub s2
There are natural pauses between s1 and s2 as well as between s2 and s1 but there should be a longer pause between s2 and s1
Lub dub counts as how many heart beats?
1
What is a good pneumonic to remember location of heart sounds?
All party till midnight—
A- aortic
P- Pulmonic
T-Tricuspid
M-Mitral
Where is the aortic heart sound located?
Right base; second intercostal space to the right of the sternal border
Where is the pulmonic heart sound located?
Left base; second intercostal space to the left of the sternal border
Where is the tricuspid heart sound located?
Left lateral sternal border; fifth intercostal space to the left of the sternal border
Where is the mitral heart sound located?
Apex; midclavicular line at the fifth intercostal space
When listening to heart sounds how many cycles are we listening two before moving to the next location?
Two
What is another name for the mitral hear sounds?
Apical pulse
What are the four pulse sites we need to know for a head to toe assessment?
- Carotid- 1 at a time, bilaterally
- Radial- bilaterally at the same time
- Apical - with a stethoscope for 2 beats
- Dorsalis Pedis- bilaterally at the same time
Why do we sometimes assess a pulse bilaterally at the same time?
We are testing for quality of pulse— is the beat happening at the same time on each side
Describe pulse quality starting with 0 and ending at 4+
0- absent- non palpable
1+ – Weak/Thready diminished, palpable
2+ — strong, normal
3+ —Full, increased
4+ — Bounding
If you ever have to use a doppler to find a pulse you want to make sure you always do what?
Document
What are the 6 components of the Cardiac Assessment
- heart sounds
- carotid pulses
- Radial pulses
- Pedal pulses
- Capillary refill
- Assess for Edema
During our cardiac assessment how do we assess the extremites?
- Capillary refill
- Edema– Swelling in the extremities
During our cardiac assessment we test capillary refill explain how we do that?
Press skin of nailbed to produce blanching, release pressure and observe time taken for color to return, should be less that 2-3 seconds, BUE and BLE
What could affect your ability to test for capillary refill?
Artificial nails/nail polish
If you can not assess the capillary refill using the nail bed how else can you assess
By using the tip of the extremity
True or false: cold can affect capillary refill?
True
What are the two types of edemas we assess during the cardiac assessment
1.Dependent edema
2. pitting edema
Where is dependent edema most often found and on who?
Feet and ankles and older adults standing
What is the main causes for pitting Edema?
Venous insufficiency or heart failure, fluid in tissues
What areas do we assess with ROM? (range of motion)
- neck
- shoulders, upper arms & elbows
- wrists
4.hips - knees
- Ankles
When assessing a patients ROM of the neck what will we have them do?
- Move neck side to side
- chin to chest
- extension back (front to back)
When assessing ROM of the shoulders, upper arms and elbows what will we have a patient do?
- Arms out to side
- arms straight up
- touchdown.
When assessing ROM of the wrists what will we ask our patient to do?
Wrist circles
When assessing ROM of the hips, knees and ankles what will we ask our patients to do?
- Bilateral hip flexion out
- bend knees
- ankle circles
What are the 5 components of the musculoskeletal assessment?
- Neck ROM
- BUE ROM
- BLE ROM
- HGTW–done in neuro
- Flexion/extension BUE and BLE— done in neuro
During the integument specific health assessments, we will be assessing the skin from head to toe for what?
- hydration
- temp
- color
- texture
- rashes
- lesions
- cracking
During the integument specific health assessments, we will be assessing the skin from head to toe looking for changes in color. What are some of the color changes we may see? list 4 and what they are
- Pallor- Pale or ashen gray
- Erythema– redness r/t vasodilation
- Jaundice– yellow, impaired liver
- cyanosis– bluish, decreased circulation or oxygenation of blood
Other than the skin where else on the body could you look to see if a patient is jaundiced
Scalera of eye
What are some common skin characteristics that can offer clues to health status? List 4.
- Temp should be warm, consistent with room temp
- Moisture from diaphoresis or dry from dehydration
- Texture can be dry & course (elbows & Knees) or shiny with no hair (impaired peripheral circulation)
- Turgor tests elasticity of the skin related to hydration
True or false: some illness can affect our skin texture?
true
What are some factors that can affect the skin? list 7
- dampness
- dehydration
- nutrition
- Circulation
- Disease
- Jaundice
- Lifestyle
What are some normal skin changes in older adults? List 9.
- Epidermis–> becomes thinner/paler/translucent
- Subcutaneous Tissue–>offers less protection (why old people are colder)
3.Collagen & Elastin fibers–>More prone to wrinkles
- Hormones–> lack of hormones can lead to dry and thinning hair
- Vascularity –>Microcapillaries become less on surface of skin–> can lead to coolness of skin
- Hair follicles–> slower growing and diminish in numbers/activity
- Melanocytes–> what gives our skin pigment–> decreases which causes our skin pigment to become uneven and our hair to gray
- Nails–> become thicker and softer or really think and hard
- Skin growths–> Warts and liver age spots increase
What causes pitting edema?
Kidney or heart failure because it leads to excess fluid collection in the tissue
How can you determine the severity of pitting edema
Four-point scale, degree and response
With pitting edema— describe the four-point scale, degree and response for each level.
- Four-point scale: 1+
Degree: 2mm to trace
Response: Rapid response - Four-point scale: 2+
Degree: 4mm to mild
Response: 10-18 seconds - Four-point scale: 3+
Degree: 6mm to moderate
Response: 1-2 mins. - Four-point scale: 4+
Degree: 8mm to severe
Response: 2-5 Mins
When we are doing our assessment of bony prominences what are we looking at and for what?
- Hips, heels, coccyx, shoulders
- Assess for skin integrity
- Blanching red spot
What are we observing when doing our nail assessment?
- shape
- contour
- cleanliness
- neatly manicured/trimmed
What should a nail look like?
- transparent
- smooth
- Rounded
- Convex
- Hygienic
When we are assessing a patient’s hair what are we looking for
- Terminal Hair
- Vellus hair
- Quantity
- Distribution
- Texture
- Color
- Parasites
When assessing for terminal hair during the hair assessment what areas are we looking at?
Scalp, axillae, pubic and beard
What is vellus hair?
Soft tiny hairs covering the body except on palms and soles
When assessing the hair quantity what are somethings we may look for?
Alopecia (abnormal hair loss) & hirsutism (abnormal hair growth)
When assessing a patients ear what are things we are looking at? list 8
- Symmetry
- drainage
- Shape
- Hearing defects
- lesions
- Redness
- tenderness
- Odor
When assessing a patients nose what are some of the things we are looking for/at?
1.position
2.symmetry
3.Color
4. swelling
5.Deformities
6. Discharge
7. flaring
8. patency,
9. Sinus tenderness
When we inspect the patients oral cavity what are we looking at/for? list 5
1.lips
2.oral mucosa
3.teeth
4.gums/tongue
5. breath odor
When inspecting a patients throat what are we looking for/at? list 6
1.Lumps
2. ulcers
3. edema
4. white spots
5. redness
6. swollowing
When inspecting a patients throat what are we looking for/at? list 6
1.Lumps
2. ulcers
3. edema
4. white spots
5. redness
6. swallowing
When assessing a patients neck what are we looking for/at?
1.Contour & symmetry,
2. midline trachea,
3. jugular vein distention
When assessing a patients neck we will also need to palpate the neck to check for inflamed/enlarged lymph nodes… take a moment to review where to palpate using the power point from lecture
Review power point
What are the components of the integument assessment? list 9
- Inspect hair and scalp
- inspect ears
- inspect nose
- inspect mouth and throat
- inspect and palpate neck
- assess skin turgor
- inspect skin on back and bony prominences
- inspect skin of BUE and BLE
- Inspect nails
What does Elimination mean (bowel definitions)
Excretion of waste products from kidneys and intestines
What does defecation mean?
Process of elimination of waste