Age Specific Risk Reduction, Health Screen, And Immunizations (Research Paper Sample)

Head to Toe Assessment
Student Name
Institutional AffiliationHead to Toe Assessment
The head to toe health assessment refers to preliminary steps conducted in the nursing process in the systemic approach of collecting physical and subjective information on a patient that help nurses to devise diagnosis and plan patient care (Bickley, 2005). Head to toe assessment provides the basis that nurses enquire about questions stated in the pt. Previous history as indicated in the charts. These assessments evaluate the efficiency of the nursing interventions conducted on the patient in former times. The primary objective of this assessment is to establish the status of the patient and to record patient's responses to actual or prospective problems. This research essay entails a head to toe assessment of a 42-year-old Caucasian male who was one of the chosen participants. In the body of the research essay, there will be reviews for each system with normal and abnormal findings. These findings will go together with normal laboratory findings for different client ages. The research will constitute an analysis of age-specific risk reduction, health-screen, and immunizations. The researcher will provide information on what they consider reasonable findings and what indicates abnormal results, differential diagnosis related with possible abnormal findings, the plan of care, client, and age-appropriate evidence-based practices strategies for health promotion, and pharmacological treatments.
How to assess without equipment
If a nurse lacks the equipment necessary to do the assessment, they would greet the patient and identify them and elaborate what they are about to do. The nurse then measures the five vital signs including temperature, pulse, blood pressure, respiration, and pain. As the nurse regulates these aspects, they would observe non-verbal cues, mobility, and ROM (Jarvis, 2012).
HEENT/Neuro
The nurse should inspect the patient's head for symmetry, the condition of hair and scalp. The nurse should examine the eyes conjunctiva and sclera, pupils for reactivity to light, and their ability follow light or finger (Jarvis, 2012). Concerning the ears, the nurse should inspect whether the patient utilizes hearing aids and presence of pain. The nurse should speak in whispers to test whether the patients hears and comprehends. The nurse would then turn away and talk to ensure that the patient is not reading the nurse's lips. Concerning the nose, the nurse would inspect for congestion, difficulty breathing, drainage, and their sense of smell. Regarding the throat and mouth, the nurse would check mucous membranes, the presence of lesions, teeth or dentures, odor, their ability to swallow, the trachea, the lymph nodes and the state of the tongue (Jarvis, 2012).
The level of consciousness and orientation
The nurse would test for awareness and orientation by asking the patient a series of questions like their name, place, and the time of the day. Criteria for testing orientation would be asking the patient the purpose of the assessments or whether they recognize essential equipment, the nurse is using (Jarvis, 2012).
Skin
As the nurse inspects the patient, they must examine and take note of the state of the integumentary system for any inconsistencies such as scars, lesions, wounds, redness, or irritation. They would then proceed to look at the turgor, color, temperature, and moisture of the skin (Jarvis, 2012).
The thoracic region
The nurse would then proceed to inspect the lungs and the cardiac sounds from the front and the back. The nurse would investigate these based on the character and quality alongside the presence or absence of characteristic sounds. The nurse must palpate the chest wall and breasts for any tenderness or lumps (Bickley, 2005).
Concerning the abdomen, the nurse would listen to sounds produced by the four quadrants. They would palpate the stomach and bladder for tenderness or lumps. They would ask the patient about the intake and output of bowels and bladder, the patient's appetite and complete inspecting the abdomen by assessing the genitalia for tenderness, lumps, and lesions (Bickley, 2005).
Extremities
The nurse would then measure the temperature at the extremities, assess capillary fill and ROM while palpating for pulses and inspecting for edema, lesions, lumps, and pain.
Review of normal laboratory findings
HEENT/Neuro
For reasonable results, the head must be round, normocephalic and symmetrical. The skull with normal findings would comprise zero nodules, masses, or depressions when the nurse palpates. The face would appear smooth with uniform consistency without nodules or masses (Jarvis, 2012).
The eyebrows must comprise evenly distributed hairs with symmetrical alignment and similar movement when the nurse asks the patient to raise or lower the eyebrows. For normal findings, the eyelashes should have equal distribution and curl outwardly. The eyelids must comprise no discharges, discolorations and the lids must close symmetrically with involuntary blinks at the rate of roughly 15 to 20 times per minute (Jarvis, 2012).
Concerning the eyes, the bulbar conjunctiva must appear transparent without visible capillaries. The sclera must appear white. The palpebral conjunctiva should appear shiny, smooth, and pink. There should be zero edema or tear of the lachrymal glands. The cornea must appear transparent, soft, and shiny comprising details of the iris. The client would blink when the nurse touches the cornea. The pupils would be black and equal in size for both eyes with round flat iris that is also rounded. Concerning the peripheral visual field, the patient must see objects in the periphery when looking straight ahead. When the nurse is testing the extra ocular muscles, both eyes of the patient must move coordinately in unison with parallel alignment, and the patient must read the newsprint before his eyes at a distance of 14 inches (Jarvis, 2012).
Concerning the ears, the auricles must be symmetrical with the same color as the facial skin. The auricles must have the same alignment with the outer canthus of the eye. When the nurse palpates the ears for texture, the auricles must be mobile, firm, and not tender. The pinna must recoil when the nurse folds (Jarvis, 2012).
Regarding the nose and sinus, the nose must appear symmetric, straight, and uniform in coloration. The nose must not comprise of discharges, and when the nurse palpates them, there must be an absence of tenderness and lesions (Jarvis, 2012).
The patient's mouth must comprise of a uniform pink color with evenly distributed moisture, symmetrical and consist of smooth texture. The patient must purse lips when the nurse asks them to whistle. Regarding the teeth and gums, normal findings comprise of no discoloration of the enamels, retraction of the gums and the gums must have the pink color (Jarvis, 2012). The buccal mucosa must contain even distribution of pink color that is moist. The muscles of the neck must have equal sizes with coordinated, smooth head movements and zero discomfort. The lymph nodes of the patient must not be palpable. The patient's trachea must appear at the center of the neck, the thyroid gland must not be visible, and the organs that ascend downwards during swallowing should not be visible (Jarvis, 2012).
The chest wall must be intact without tenderness and masses. The chest wall must be full of symmetric expansion and the thumbs separate two or three centimeters during inspiration when assessing from the respiratory excursion. The patient must exhibit quiet, seamless, and rhythmic respiration (Jarvis, 2012). The spine must appear vertical to the ribcage with right and left shoulders and hips looking at the same height. There must be no visible pulsations on the aortic and pulmonic regions.
The abdomen of the patient must comprise unblemished skin with uniform pigmentation. The contours of the stomach must be symmetric with symmetric movements related to the patient's respiration. The jugular veins must be visible to the nurse. When the nurse presses the patient's nails between the fingers, the nails must resume normal color in less than four seconds (Jarvis, 2012).
The extremities must comprise of symmetry regarding size and length. The muscles must not be palpable with the absence of tremors. They must be ordinarily firm and consist of smooth and coordinated movements. The bones must show no presence of bone deformities, tenderness, or swellings. The joints must comprise no blisters, tenderness and must move smoothly (Jarvis, 2012).
Expectation for abnormal findings
For abnormal findings, the skin must not regain the previous state when the nurse pinches. The surface would have uneven color distribution. The nails would comprise of rough and out of contact with the epidermis. In an abnormal finding, the face would contain asymmetrical facial movements with palpebral fissures that are uneven in size and asymmetrical nasolabial folds (Bickley, 2005). The hairs on the eyebrows and eyelashes would be unequally distributed.
For abnormal findings, the eyebrows would be asymmetrically aligned and comprise different movements. The eyelashes would curl unevenly outwards. The eyelids would consist of discharges, discoloration, and asymmetrical and voluntary blinking. The bulbar conjunctiva would have color and invisible or very visible capillaries. The sclera would have color. The lacrimal gland, lacrimal sac, and nasolacrimal duct would have edema and tenderness over the lacrimal gland with tearing (Bickley, 2005). The cornea would comprise of inconsisten...