Conducting a head-to-toe

[ZanatuBelmont]

Hi!

Not sure what it's like in your state, but in Texas the LVN cannot initiate an assessment, but we can add, monitor and adjust as needed. I want to "function as an RN" personally - not professionally, obviously - when it comes to head-to-toe assessments. I don't want to go running to the RN because I'mdumbfounded! I want to run to the RN because there is something I can't do legally.

Is there a trick you have used to remember what to look at and in what order? I prefer the systems review method, but I am still THINKING about it when I go into a patients room. Is there a "song" you remember that helps you flow right through the process? A rhyme? Etc..

I do know what I am supposed to look for, but I still have to think myself through. I want to find a way to make it feel more natural rather than calculated. Does that make sense?

10 more weeks until graduation from my program and I am still struggling with this! I know when I get on the floor I will be thrown to the wolves, so I want to look stupid NOW rather than LATER. :-)

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

i just look at the person and remember to look at all their parts from head to toe. after doing many, many of them you develop your own routine. with specific diseases that each patient has you also learn to check for specific symptoms that they might have (which is why we need to learn what the signs and symptoms of each disease/condition are). use the online merck manual to help you with those: http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/sections.jsp. i, personally, think it is hogwash to tell lpns (lvns in texas and california) that they cannot initiate an assessment. you are just as capable as i am of detecting something that is abnormal. unfortunately, however, the rn is the one who has ultimately responsibility for the patient. i do commend you on your passion and determination and i would be honored to work side by side with you anytime.

check out the sticky thread health assessment resources, techniques, and forms in nursing student assistance forum (https://allnurses.com/nursing-student-assistance/health-assessment-resources-145091.html). you will find a number of weblinks to information on how to do an assessment. head-to-toe assessment information is on posts #5, #11 and #13. my personal favorite website for assessment instruction is the ucsd website practical guide to clinical medicine at http://meded.ucsd.edu/clinicalmed/introduction.htm.

[NurseCubanitaRN2b, BSN, RN]

From what I heard back in the day that LVN/LPN were allowed to do assessments. Now it's called Data Collection, which is the same crap if you ask me. We just can't do an admission assessment, but once they're admitted, then we're allowed to assess them each shift....it's stupid I know, but it's the way it is.....

Now as for an assessment/data collection, I use the review of systems. But remember that when you're looking at one system, you will also see another system at the sametime, so you'll jump here and there...As long as the outcome is the same, it doesn't matter. Good luck

[dblpn]

From what I heard back in the day that LVN/LPN were allowed to do assessments. Now it's called Data Collection, which is the same crap if you ask me. We just can't do an admission assessment, but once they're admitted, then we're allowed to assess them each shift....it's stupid I know, but it's the way it is.....

Now as for an assessment/data collection, I use the review of systems. But remember that when you're looking at one system, you will also see another system at the sametime, so you'll jump here and there...As long as the outcome is the same, it doesn't matter. Good luck

It's the same here in Mo. LPN's can't do the initial assesment but we can only assist the RN with data collection like vs, ht, wt. that sort of thing. then we're required to do an ongoing assessment once they're admitted in an acute care facility.