Credit Hours: 10

Introduction of the module

A physical assessment includes a head to toe review of each body system, which offers objective information about the patient. The purposes of head to foot assessment is to identify deviations from normal status and chalk out plan of care for the patient. It is very important for the nurses to gain adequate skills in performing a detailed head to foot assessment as this will enable her to match the findings with the subjective data of the patients.

Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is the most common scoring system used to describe the level of consciousness in a person following a traumatic brain injury. The Glasgow Coma Scale is based on a 15-point scale for estimating and categorizing the outcomes of brain injury on the basis of overall social capability or dependence on others. The test measures the motor response, verbal response and eye-opening response with these values.

Objective

At the end of the course the learner would be able to:

• To understand the basics of Physical examination
• To develop skill in performing systematic physical examination
• Assess the consciousness level of the patient by using Glasgow coma scale
• Plan appropriate nursing care based on the assessment findings

Instructor: Ms. Jyoti, Associate Professor, Government Medical College, Chandigarh

Facility: Maharishi Markandeshwar Deemed to be University (MMU), Mullana, Ambala