NUR 138 - Basic Health Assessment Skills

Class: 1 Lab: 3 Credits: 2
This course is a study of the cognitive, psychomotor, and technological skills necessary to perform a basic health assessment for adult clients.

Corequisite(s): Take NUR 106 and NUR 120.

Course Topics:

Introduction to the nursing process with a focus on “assessment.”
The use of the four assessment tools (inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation) to perform a head-to-toe nursing health assessment of the following body systems:
- Mental status
- Head and face
- Eyes and ears
- Mouth, nose, throat, neck, and sinuses
- Musculoskeletal
- Respiratory and thorax
- Cardiac and peripheral vascular
- Gastrointestinal
- Neurologic
- Integumentary
- Urogenital
- Breast and axilla

Textbooks:
Textbook information can be found on the Book Inn Web site

Required Materials:
To be brought to each class:

Stethoscope (with diaphragm and bell capabilities)
Functioning penlight

Grading System:
A 90 - 100
B 80 - 89
C 70 - 79
D 60 - 69
F 0 - 59

Student Learning Outcomes:

Assign patient-directed questions to their appropriate question category (e.g., past medical history).
Correctly identify and perform the cognitive and psychomotor components of a head-to-toe nursing assessment and review-of-systems examination during a scheduled appointment with a course instructor.
Choose appropriate HPI (history of present illness) questions to obtain information about a presenting client’s chief complaint.
Demonstrate a rising second semester technical proficiency level in the performance of nursing assessment techniques (i.e., inspection, auscultation, palpation and percussion) and utilization of the equipment used to perform a nursing physical assessment (e.g., stethoscope, penlight, tuning fork, etc.).

For SCC Online Courses:
If the course you are taking is online, please review the SCC Online Policies that include:

Required materials for all online courses
Mandatory Attendance Requirement
Proctored Exams

Face Covering Requirements:
All faculty, staff and students must wear a face mask/covering at all times (absent a medical condition) on all SCC campuses when safe social distancing measures are not possible or difficult to follow. For further details, refer to the Student Guidelines for Face Coverings and Social Distancing on the SCC Coronavirus COVID-19 Information page.

Standard SCC Course Policies:
Please review the Standard SCC Course Polices on the following topics:

Academic Integrity
Academic Misconduct
Add/Drop period
Appeals Process
Class Attendance
Classroom Behavior (traditional and online)
Classroom Conduct/Expectations
Lab Procedures (general SCC policy regarding this)
Online Confidentiality
Services For Students with Disabilities
Withdrawal Policy

Official Course Syllabus
2020-2021