Barb Bancroft’s – The History and Physical Assessment of the Adult Patient—If You Only Have 15 Minutes

A Live Virtual Event 8:50 AM –1:45 PM (Central Time Zone)

In today’s crazy-busy world of nursing, how often do you have 2 hours to perform a complete history and physical examination? Barb will provide a blueprint for success for taking a 5-minute history and performing a 10-minute exam. The 5-minute history will follow a tried-and-true PQRST + AAA mnemonic that Barb has used for over 40+ years as an NP. It’s quick, it’s thorough, and will provide 80% of what you need to know about the current problem that the patient is presenting with. A quick review of vital signs (not how to take vital signs but how to “interpret” vital signs) will follow the history. The actual physical exam will be determined by the findings on the history and vital sign assessment. For example, if the patient is complaining of a headache, you really don’t need to do a musculoskeletal exam. If the patient is complaining of chest pain, you really DO need to do a thorough exam of the cardiovascular system—not just listening to the heart. Speaking of listening to the heart, Barb provides a very simple way of systolic vs. diastolic heart murmurs as well as “extra” heart sounds. The respiratory exam is quick and easy (are they breathing?), the abdominal exam is easy but difficult to interpret and can be potentially catastrophic if not done properly, and the neuro exam is well, the neuro exam. However, Barb shortens the neuro exam to the essentials. In other words, not every cranial nerve needs to be assessed and not every higher cortical function needs to be determined. Come and enjoy Barb’s unique way of taking a history and performing Physical Assessment “in a pinch.”