Physical Examination and Fundamental Nursing Skills
The Fundamentals of Nursing and Physical Examination Laboratory provides the foundation for students' clinical skills development. It is designed to enable students to move from theoretical knowledge to competent performance of essential nursing procedures. The laboratory supports both fundamental nursing skills and comprehensive physical assessment, allowing students to develop competency progressively before performing these skills with actual patients.
Students receive practical training in areas such as:
- Patient identification and safety.
- Hand hygiene and infection prevention and control.
- Vital signs assessment.
- Pain assessment.
- Head-to-toe physical examination.
- Health history and patient interviewing.
- Respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological, abdominal, and musculoskeletal assessment.
- Activities of daily living.
- Wound and skin care.
- Medication administration.
- Enteral feeding and related nursing care.
- Intravenous therapy skills.
- Documentation and clinical reporting.
- Therapeutic communication.
- Patient education.
The laboratory provides students with repeated opportunities to practice and demonstrate psychomotor skills, receive immediate faculty feedback, and achieve competency before progressing to more complex clinical activities.
The physical examination component also helps students develop the ability to systematically collect and interpret patient assessment data, identify abnormal findings, and communicate relevant clinical information to support nursing diagnoses, care planning, and clinical decision-making.