We have been introduced to physical assessment over 2 - 1 1/2 hour lectures. This is all the information we get (besides textbook obviously) and we are expected to be able to do a complete head-to-toe physical assessment by next Tuesday. I have a couple of issues.....#1, I have never had a doc - much less a nurse - do an assessment on me like the kind we are expected to learn in a week. #2 - even the instructors have said "this isn't enough time....if you were going to the local university you would be taking this as a course over the whole semester...but since you're not we have to cram it into a week!" #3 - when we check-off we will not know until right before what body system to be responsible for and we cannot take our 'cheat sheet' in on the check-off.
This is mostly a vent - but at the same time, is this normal? Are other students being expected to do this in-depth of an assessment? Are there any nurses out there that actually do these in-depth assessments? There must be for them to be requiring us to learn so much (in a short time)....but as I said before, never even had a doc assess me like this.
