Comprehensive/General Survey Assessment

Whether you are performing a comprehensive / general survey assessment or a focused assessment, there are four basic tools employed which includes inspection, auscultation, percussion, and palpation (Jarvis, 2008). These methods recommended to be utilized in a well arranged manner from least disturbing or invasive to most invasive to the patient (Jarvis, 2008). Inspection is the first and most commonly used and during this assessment, the provider is striving to identify conditions that can be seen with eyes, ears, or nose such as skin color, bruises or rash, size of body parts, hair, ear, eyes and abnormal findings, sounds, and smell etc (Javier, 2015). For instance, Baid Heather 2006, suggested that if a patient walked into the room or facility, gait maybe observed, if on wheelchair or bed rest, posture issue will be noted while listening to the patient tone of voice or breathing will indicate neurological issues such as dizziness, inability speaking, difficulty swallowing, headache, head injury , vision issue, discharge from ear etc and respiratory issues hence this assessment is vital as it can lead to more evaluation and findings (Jarvis, 2015). Another is Auscultation which succeeds inspection, especially with abdominal assessment which is required to be auscultated prior percussion or palpation to curb production of false bowel sound because the assessment requires quiet to prevent false sounds and done over bare skin, listening to one sound at a time

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