good head-to-toe assessment routine

[stewiegriffin]

I want to be able to do my initial head-to-toe assessment in an orderly and efficient manner. I feel like I'm all over the place, jumping from here to there & then remembering something and jumping back to another place. What is your typical routine for the beginning-of-shift assessment? Are there any hints or tricks that might help me streamline? Sometimes, I feel like there's data/info I could've got at another time during my assessment, that would've been more convenient. Perhaps I'm overthinking this all way too much? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

[elf5ft10]

best thing i can tell you is go head to toe, take everything in from the head LOC, PERRLA etc, hair, skin and so forth and just work your way down. that is how i do it and it works for me. but i do forget things when i am in a hurry. so don't get discouraged, it just takes time and practice to find your way to do an assessment. Good Luck!

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

see posts #5 and #13 for information on head-to-toe assessments on this sticky thread in the nursing student assistance forum

• https://allnurses.com/forums/f205/health-assessment-resources-techniques-forms-145091.html - health assessment resources, techniques, and forms