Physical Examination and Diagnostic Skills for Nurses and Allied Health Professionals

This textbook aspires to provide a practical guide the reader can refer to and learn how to physically examine and differentiate a diagnosis. It aims to provide the how to physically examine and how to put together physical features, signs and symptoms and findings from the physical examination to differentially diagnose the patient s problem. This book is for nurses and allied health professionals seeking to advance their practical physical examination and diagnostic skills such as advanced clinical practitioners whose roles and jobs require to detect subtle alterations found in the body and help diagnose patient s problems correctly. In view of the Nursing & Midwifery Council (2018) standards for nursing education and training (NMC 2018), schools of nursing prepare nurses undertake a comprehensive person-centred assessment before they make a diagnosis.

This textbook discusses the consultation models used in practice, general examination skills used to examine the cardiovascular system, the respiratory, the gastrointestinal tract, the renal system and urinary tract, the nervous system, and the musculoskeletal system. It provides practical activities for students to apply their new knowledge and skill. At the end of each chapter, the authors provide scenarios related to the body system discussed in the chapter for students to work through. Each chapter discusses how the student applies the diagnostic skill of inspection, palpitation, percussion, and auscultation to the specific system to diagnose a problem. Students must have a fair understanding and knowledge of anatomy and physiology to benefit from this book and build on their learning.

This textbook prepares clinicians to learn, develop and master the skill of observing and assessing the general symptoms and signs the patient may present with from each system and enable them to provide evidence-based diagnosis. This book sets the foundation to scaffold clinical assessment into diagnostic skills and knowledge and improve clinical competence.

1 Assessing and Diagnosing using the Calgary-Cambridge Communication-based Model (CCCM).- 2 Clinical History Taking.- 3 General Examination Skills.- 4 Assessing and Diagnosing Disorders of the Cardio-Vascular System (CVS).- 5 Assessing and Diagnosing Disorders of the Respiratory System (RS).- 6 Assessing and Diagnosing the Digestive system.- 7 Assessing and diagnosing disorders of the nervous system.- 8 Assessing and Diagnosing Disorders of the Musculoskeletal System (MS).

Dr. Chrysi Leliopoulou, PhD, MSc, SFHEA is an Associate Professor of Nursing Sciences at the University of East Anglia. Chrysi has over 20 years of teaching experience and education management. Chrysi is a haemato-oncology nurse and a mixed method researcher. Chrysi also supervises MSc students, ACP trainees, DProf and PhD students. Chrysi has a special interest in nursing sciences, evidence based clinical practice and decision making, workforce development, wellbeing and emotionality.

Dr. Lily Holman MBBS MSc PhD is an Associate Professor of Clinical Sciences at Middlesex University. Lily has over 25 years of experience in medical education and practice. She began her medical career in 1986, practicing for a number of years in a general hospital, after which she went to UCL to complete her MSc and PhD. Lily has a wide range of academic experience in leading the development and delivery of diagnostic skills for nursing, medical science, neuroscience, sport, and exercise medicine programmes.