Patients Assessment
Over the past three days, we have been in the Green Land Laboratory (GLL). I have gained a lot of experience. My work at the lab included the body examinations like palpation, percussion and auscultation. The experience has given me the necessary skills to use of essential laboratory equipment such as the thermometer, stethoscope and weighing machine. In addition, I have gained an understanding in different examinations of the body. During the session, I learned the above areas since they are my areas of expertise in my course. Moreover, the body assessments were carried through the interviews.
My first accomplishment at the GLL, was in palpation. In palpation, I used my hand in applying a little pressure on the forehead, the chest cavity and the abdominal region. Through the application of a little pressure on hands, I felt for abnormal body temperature and the pulse rate. For instance, the chest vibrations are very easy to detect when placing the hands at consistent rates and removing at equal intervals. The sense of touch often translates to the good interpretation of body temperature changes and the body mass interpretations (Estes, 2013). Generally, the body palpation is for body mass detection as it includes the use of the hands to give the physical interpretations on the patient’s body. The application of palpation is easy to use as it needs only concentration of the mind and the interpretation of the feelings. The body parts that require the palpation technique include head, chest and the lumbar region.
My second accomplishment was in percussion and auscultation. In this method, I learned how to use the hand by tapping the body parts. The tapping of the hand in different body parts helps to determine the presence and absence of air and fluids in different body parts. For instance, the lungs sound empty on percussion when there is a lot of air while the bones and the joints sound solid since they are made of hard solid. There are two types of percussions; the direct or indirect percussion. Direct percussion only involves tapping using two fingers on the region of examination while the indirect involves the flexor finger (Bickley, 2012). Auscultation involves the use of equipment, especially the use of a stethoscope, to listen to the sounds in the body. For example, the lungs and major blood vessels are usually felt by the use stethoscope. The position of the of stethoscope matters a lot as this will depend on the part of the body being examined. The major blood vessels require much concentration during the examination.
The final accomplishment was in patient history taking. It involves interviewing the patient and getting the feedback from them. It is more of subjective and requires a patient’s direct opinion. For instance, asking patients about their past medical records. However, this part incorporates progress of information from basic information to more complex and personal details. The history-taking makes it possible to trace the course of the disease to arrive at a comprehensive analysis. In addition, particular questions will also help to relate the environment and the family background details. In my interaction with the patients, it was clear that the environment often contributes to the spread of some diseases (Estes, 2013) –like cholera.
Reference
Bickley, L. S., Szilagyi, P. G., & Hoffman, R. M. (2017). Bates’ guide to physical examination and history taking. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer.
Estes, M. E., Calleja, P., Harvey, T., & Theobald, K. (2013). Health assessment and physical examination: Australian & New Zealand edition. South Melbourne: Cengage Learning.