How should the nurse conduct the physical examination of a patient's skin?
1. Inspect the skin while the patient is standing up.
2. Be aware of ethnic differences.
3. Examine the least-exposed areas first.
4. Examine only the areas of specific concern.
2
Rationale 1: The nurse should inspect the skin while the patient is in a sitting or lying position.
Rationale 2: Ethnic differences are important because of the difference in skin color. For example, in dark-skinned people the best areas to assess pallor, cyanosis, and jaundice are the oral mucous membranes and conjunctiva.
Rationale 3: The nurse should begin by examining the most frequently exposed areas first.
Rationale 4: To examine the skin properly the nurse must take a brief but careful look at the patient's entire body and then examine specific areas of concern in detail.
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