{"id":255,"date":"2015-02-17T18:10:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-17T18:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/clinicalskills\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=255"},"modified":"2019-06-05T21:00:27","modified_gmt":"2019-06-05T21:00:27","slug":"introduction-2","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/clinicalskills\/chapter\/introduction-2\/","title":{"raw":"2.1 Introduction","rendered":"2.1 Introduction"},"content":{"raw":"Systematic health\u00a0assessments are performed regularly in nearly every health care setting. For example:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>A health history is taken when a patient is admitted and\u00a0whenever additional subjective information is required to inform care.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Comprehensive head-to-toe assessments are done when a patient is admitted, at the beginning of each shift, and when it is determined to be necessary by the patient's hemodynamic status and context.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Brief physical assessments are done as necessary and to identify changes in a patient's status and for comparison with the previous assessment.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Focused assessments are done in response to a specific problem recognized by the assessor as needing\u00a0further assessment\u00a0of a body system.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Emergency assessments are done in emergency situations.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nA routine physical assessment\u00a0reveals information to\u00a0supplement a patient's database. The assessment is documented according to agency policy, and unusual findings are reported to appropriate members\u00a0of the health care team. Ongoing, objective, and comprehensive assessments promote continuity in health care.\r\n\r\nThe ability to think critically and interpret patient behaviours and physiologic changes is essential. The skills of physical assessment are powerful tools for detecting both subtle and obvious changes in a patient's health. The assessment skills outlined in this chapter are meant to provide a framework to develop assessment competencies applicable and salient to everyday practice as recommended by Anderson, Nix, Norman, and McPike\u00a0(2014).\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Learning Objectives<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">Physical assessment objectives include being able to:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><span class=\"item\">Describe the purposes of physical assessment<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li>Describe the different types of assessment and when they should be used to inform care<\/li>\r\n \t<li><span class=\"item\">Discuss\u00a0techniques to promote a patient's physical and psychological comfort during an examination<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span class=\"item\">Make environmental preparations before an assessment<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span class=\"item\">Identify data to collect from the nursing history before an examination<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span class=\"item\">Incorporate health promotion and health teaching into an assessment<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span class=\"item\">Use physical assessment techniques and skills during routine nursing care<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span class=\"item\">Document assessment findings according to agency policy<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li><span class=\"item\">Communicate abnormal findings to appropriate members of the health care team<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<p>Systematic health\u00a0assessments are performed regularly in nearly every health care setting. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A health history is taken when a patient is admitted and\u00a0whenever additional subjective information is required to inform care.<\/li>\n<li>Comprehensive head-to-toe assessments are done when a patient is admitted, at the beginning of each shift, and when it is determined to be necessary by the patient&#8217;s hemodynamic status and context.<\/li>\n<li>Brief physical assessments are done as necessary and to identify changes in a patient&#8217;s status and for comparison with the previous assessment.<\/li>\n<li>Focused assessments are done in response to a specific problem recognized by the assessor as needing\u00a0further assessment\u00a0of a body system.<\/li>\n<li>Emergency assessments are done in emergency situations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A routine physical assessment\u00a0reveals information to\u00a0supplement a patient&#8217;s database. The assessment is documented according to agency policy, and unusual findings are reported to appropriate members\u00a0of the health care team. Ongoing, objective, and comprehensive assessments promote continuity in health care.<\/p>\n<p>The ability to think critically and interpret patient behaviours and physiologic changes is essential. The skills of physical assessment are powerful tools for detecting both subtle and obvious changes in a patient&#8217;s health. The assessment skills outlined in this chapter are meant to provide a framework to develop assessment competencies applicable and salient to everyday practice as recommended by Anderson, Nix, Norman, and McPike\u00a0(2014).<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Learning Objectives<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">Physical assessment objectives include being able to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"item\">Describe the purposes of physical assessment<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Describe the different types of assessment and when they should be used to inform care<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"item\">Discuss\u00a0techniques to promote a patient&#8217;s physical and psychological comfort during an examination<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"item\">Make environmental preparations before an assessment<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"item\">Identify data to collect from the nursing history before an examination<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"item\">Incorporate health promotion and health teaching into an assessment<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"item\">Use physical assessment techniques and skills during routine nursing care<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"item\">Document assessment findings according to agency policy<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"item\">Communicate abnormal findings to appropriate members of the health care team<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-255","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":253,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/clinicalskills\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/clinicalskills\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/clinicalskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/clinicalskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/clinicalskills\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9886,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/clinicalskills\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/255\/revisions\/9886"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/clinicalskills\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/253"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/clinicalskills\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/255\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/clinicalskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/clinicalskills\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/clinicalskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/clinicalskills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}