documenting

to describe the foot drop i would chart, "patient maintains left foot in plantar flexion unless supported." if you are able to perform a homan's test, which is passive dorsiflexion, on the left leg, merely chart whether or not the patient has pain or not when performing the test, so, "no calf pain to passive dorsiflexion of left foot" or "complains of calf pain with passive dorsiflexion of left foot." your instructor may also accept "negative homan's sign left foot" or "positive homan's sign left foot." if the patient has a contracture deformity of the left foot from the foot drop i would chart, "unable to perform homan's test in the left lower extremity due to plantar flexion contracture of foot."

here are some links to help you with documentation. the first link is a list of medical terms related to body positioning and movement that are useful to know when describing positions and movements of parts of patient's bodies. the other two are articles about documenting nurses notes.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/wnor/terminologyanatplanes.htm - this really is more for someone taking anatomy, but it is medical terminology. the site the shows and tells you the anatomical planes of the body, defines terms of relation or position, defines terms of movement, and has a listing of frequently used medical terms in anatomy with their definitions. a reference you might want to print out for your anatomy notebooks.

http://www2.nursingspectrum.com/ce/self-study_modules/course.html?id=393 - "document it right: a nurse's guide to charting".

https://nursing.advanceweb.com/common/ce/content.aspx?courseid=251&creditid=1&cc=36532&sid=1095 - documentation. an article from advance for nurses

You are welcome. I'm glad you found them helpful.