Discussion 1:. Nursing is an essential profession in th

Discussion 1:
Nursing is an essential profession in the field of medical services; the duty of the nurses is to take
care of their patients and make them cure as fast as possible. The prime focus of nursing is to
assess patient health and find out whether the patient is suffering from any disease or not. The
primary duty of a nurse is to complete the physical assessment of the patients daily from head to
toe.
Being a nurse, my first responsibility is to do the physical assessment of the human body daily
from head to toe. There are many steps or process to do the checking of the human body such as
first we have to check the general appearance of the patient to see the level of their hygiene,
body position, patient mobility, speech articulation etc. After looking for the physical appearance
then there is the checking of the skin, hair and inspection of the lesion, bruises, to check the
colour of nails, inspect for the pressure areas, etc. Gradually in the next phase, we should inspect
the eyes of the pupillary contract, mouth and tongue, etc. Then there is the examination of the
chest for the expansion/retraction of the chest wall, then an auscultate process for the breath
sounds anteriorly and posteriorly, heart rate etc. After chest we have to look after the abdominal
part of the human being where we have to inspect about the abdomen for distention, symmetry,
bowel sounds, check the urine output and the colour of the urine, then there is the inspection of
hand, legs and arms and see whether they are in proper shape and it is flexible and stretching or
not and then we have to check the back area and check the spinal cord etc.
But as a nurse, I perform these checks daily except a few such as throat checking, weight
checking, checking the skin integrity etc. So regularly if I look at these factors of my patient,
then they will be cured very fast, and if any disease is there, it can be found out. So having to
look at the whole body from head to toe is very important to become a successful nurse and be

best in their profession. Although as a nurse I do not do these checks regularly, it is very
important for me to know these checks and be skilled at completing them because in case an
emergency exists I shall be ready and well known on how to perform these checks and will not
have to go through the manual to do it. Further, if I am transferring to a new hospital, they will
check if I know the basics and these are the mandatory checks which every nurse should know
and skilled with.
References
Doyle, G., & McCutcheon, J. (2015). Clinical procedures for safer patient care (p. Ch 2).