Health Assessments

Nursing Students Student Assist

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Hello everyone!

I am a first semester nursing student and am five weeks into my health assessment class. We are going to be starting to learn about physical assessments on Monday and will be covering a couple areas of the body each week. I noticed at the end of the semester we have to demonstrate a head to toe assessment. Any tips or resources to help me along the way so that by the end of the semester I can pass my demo?

Thank you! :)

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Gosh I remember freaking out about the head to toe assessment. In the end you'll be fine. My best advice is to grab a buddy and practice the head to toe often. Before you know it, you'll be a pro! Good luck!

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I am also in a health assessment class and have the same thing coming up at the end of the semester! My strategy so far is to review, a lot! I have made flashcards for the systems we have already covered and plan to keep the pile going to that I have all the information in one concise place and can review in chunks or all at once and in order of what systems I should do when (head to toe). My biggest fear is that I will get so caught up in whatever system that I am working on and forget all about the skin! The skin needs to get checked throughout the exam but it is hard to remember when you are focusing on that particular region. I am also worried about how I will remember everything that I need to document by the end. After I have done a full body exam on someone am I going to be able to remember if they had any lesions around their ears? I hope so, hopefully it will all become natural by the end. Good luck!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

During the exam, chances are most things will be normal. In real life, if there is a lesion, you can jot a little note down on a piece of paper to remember it.

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