Lab Assignment (Optional): Practice Assessment: Neurological Examination

Short of opening a patient’s cranium or requesting a brain scan, what can an advanced practice nurse do to determine the cause of neurological symptoms? A multitude of techniques can be used to generate a neurological diagnosis.

In preparation for the Comprehensive (Head-to-Toe) Physical Assessment due this week, it is recommended that you practice performing a neurological examination.

Note: This is an optional practice physical assessment.

To Prepare

• Arrange an appropriate time and setting with a volunteer “patient” to perform a neurological examination.
• Download and review the Neurological Checklist provided in this week’s Learning Resources as well as review Seidel’s Guide to Physical Examination online media.

The Lab Assignment

• Perform the neurological examination. Be sure to cover all of the areas listed in the checklist and to use the plexor appropriately.

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Assignment 3: Digital Clinical Experience: Comprehensive (Head-to-Toe) Physical Assessment

Throughout this course, you were encouraged to practice conducting various physical assessments on multiple areas of the body, ranging from the head to the toes. Each of these assessments, however, was conducted independently of one another. For this DCE Assignment, you connect the knowledge and skills you gained from each individual assessment to perform a comprehensive head-to-toe physical examination in your Digital Clinical Experience.

To Prepare

• Review this week’s Learning Resources, and download and review the Physical Examination Objective Data Checklist as well as the Student Checklists and Key Points documents related to neurologic system and mental status.
• Review the Shadow Health Resources provided in this week’s Learning Resources specifically the tutorial to guide you through the documentation and interpretation with the Shadow Health platform. Review the examples also provided.
• Access and login to Shadow Health using the link in the left-hand navigation of the Blackboard classroom.
• Review the Week 9 DCE Comprehensive Physical Assessment Rubric provided in the Assignment submission area for details on completing the Assessment in Shadow Health.

DCE Comprehensive Physical Assessment:

Complete the following in Shadow Health:

• Episodic/Focused Note for Comprehensive Physical Assessment of Tina Jones (180 minutes)

Note: Each Shadow Health Assessment may be attempted and reopened as many times as necessary prior to the due date to achieve 80% or better, but you must take all attempts by the Week 9 Day 7 deadline.