Week 2 -- HEENT & Respiratory Exam Questions
and Answers 100% Pass
What is the order of the physical examination? - ANSWER ✔✔-inspection, palpation, percussion, and
auscultation
The physical examination includes inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation in that order.
Describe Inspection: - ANSWER ✔✔-concentrated watching
It is close, careful scrutiny, first of the individual as a whole and then of each body system.
Train yourself not to rush through inspection by holding your hands behind your back.
Learn to use each person as his or her own control and compare the right and left sides of the body. The
two sides are nearly symmetric. Inspection requires good lighting, adequate exposure, and occasional use
of certain instruments (otoscope, ophthalmoscope, penlight, nasal and vaginal specula)
The physical examination includes inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation in that order.
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Describe Palpation: - ANSWER ✔✔-Palpation applies your sense of touch to assess these factors: texture;
temperature; moisture; organ location and size; and any swelling, vibration or pulsation, rigidity or
spasticity, crepitation, presence of lumps or masses, and presence of tenderness or pain.
palpation technique should be slow and systematic, calm and gentle
Start with light palpation to detect surface characteristics and accustom the person to being touched.
Then perform deeper palpation, perhaps by helping the person use relaxation techniques such as imagery
or deep breathing.
The physical examination includes inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation in that order.
Describe : Auscultation - ANSWER ✔✔-For low-frequency sounds (traditional bell mode), hold the
endpiece very lightly on the skin;
for high-frequency sounds (traditional diaphragm mode), press the endpiece firmly on the skin.
The physical examination includes inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation in that order.
Describe Percussion: - ANSWER ✔✔-- tapping the person's skin with short, sharp strokes to assess
underlying structures through interpreting vibrations and characteristic sounds
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-Percuss 2 times in each location using even, staccato blows. Lift the striking finger off quickly; a resting
finger dampens vibrations.
With deep palpation (as for abdominal contents), what kind of pressure is superior? - ANSWER ✔✔-
intermittent is better than one long, continuous palpation.
Bimanual palpation definition: - ANSWER ✔✔-uses of both of your hands to envelop or capture certain
body parts or organs such as the kidneys, uterus, or adnexa for more precise delimitation
What 4 uses does percussion have?
Why use percussion compared to x-ray? - ANSWER ✔✔-• Mapping out the location and size of an organ
by exploring where the percussion note changes between the borders of an organ and its neighbors
• Signaling the density (air, fluid, or solid) of a structure by a characteristic note
• Detecting an abnormal mass if it is fairly superficial; the percussion vibrations penetrate about 5 cm
deep—a deeper mass would give no change in percussion
• Eliciting a deep tendon reflex using the percussion hammer
** x-rays are more accurate but your hands are always available, are easily portable, and give instant
feedback
What is the pleximeter? - ANSWER ✔✔-the middle finger
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