A Best Practice Approach

The second edition of the Pocket Guide is designed to work as a clinical handbook and up-to-date reference for nurses when interviewing patients of all age groups and cultural backgrounds, taking health histories, promoting health, and performing physical assessments. The content derives from and has been developed in conjunction with Jensen's Nursing Health Assessment: A Best Practice Approach and serves to both review the core content provided in the textbook as well as help students apply their foundational learning through reinforcement and streamlined presentation. The content focuses on key questions in the area of health promotion, reviewing important risk factors and outlining essential teaching points for risk assessment and intervention. It includes essential questions to review common and concerning signs and symptoms for each health assessment topic. The chapters review the key techniques of examination, outlining normal and unexpected findings. Finally, tables of findings provide a quick reference by which students can compare and contrast results to assist with eventual nursing and medical diagnoses. -Abundant full-color illustrations and photos throughout highlighting essential anatomy and physiology, techniques of physical assessment, and normal and abnormal physiologic findings -Inclusion of health promotion content throughout, which focuses on the nurse's key role in patient education and advocacy and disease prevention Safety alerts, which call attention to areas of concern that require special techniques or adaptations to protect or preserve the health of patients or caregivers Samples of documentation that assist students to remember how to record their findings Lifespan and Cultural Considerations that remind students of variations according to age or background that may influence findings