Week 1: Initial Journal Entry

Reflect on your clinical skill practice by writing your response to the following prompts:

Describe your experience with physical assessment in your nursing role to date. (What components of the exam have you completed? With what aspects of assessment are you most familiar and confident? With what aspects of assessment are you least familiar and confident? What experience have you had with pediatric, adult, and geriatric patients? If you are not currently in a clinical setting, when was the last time you performed hands-on assessment?)

Identify an individual in your workplace who you view as a role model for performance of correct physical assessment techniques.

What aspect of the assessment are you most excited to learn about?

What aspect of assessment do you envision to be the most challenging?

Provide a sample of your own documentation for a head-to-toe exam on a patient. This will provide a baseline for review later in the course.

Make sure to date your journal entry and title the entry with the system we focused on the previous week (e.g. “Lungs and Thorax”).