Conceptual Overview of Nursing Health Assessment: Nursing Process

Thorough assessment of a particular client’s health problem and does not cover areas not related to the problem.

Performed in life-threatening situations to provide prompt treatment.

1. Preparation for the assessment 2. Collection of subjective data 3. Collection of objective data 4. Validation of data 5. Documentation of data

Physical characteristics, body functions, appearance, behavior, measurements, results of laboratory testing

Inspection, Palpation, Percussion, Auscultation

Organized framework, systematic, holistic, patient-centered, problem-oriented, goal-oriented, dynamic and cyclic, flexible, use of critical thinking and clinical reasoning

Health assessment is a systematic, continuous collection of data on the health status of patients.

The goal of nursing assessment is to collect holistic subjective and objective data to determine a client’s overall level of functioning in order to make a professional clinical judgment.

A medical assessment focuses primarily on the client’s physiologic status with less focus on psychological, sociocultural, or spiritual wellbeing.

The four types of health assessment are not explicitly mentioned in the text.

Physiologic status

Dynamic and repeated

To make professional clinical judgments

Health assessment

Goal-directed activities

To gather subjective and objective data about the client's health, history, and lifestyle

It does not cover areas not related to the client's problem

Carrying out nursing interventions outlined in the plan of care

Inspection, Palpation, Percussion, Auscultation

To verify and confirm the accuracy of the collected data