The nurse is using a stethoscope to assess a patient's cardiac status. This assessment technique is known as:
a. inspection.
b. percussion.
c. palpation.
d. auscultation.
ANS: D
Auscultation is a technique of listening with the assistance of a stethoscope to sounds made by organs or systems such as the heart, blood vessels, lungs, and abdominal cavity. Inspection involves the use of vision, hearing, and smell to closely scrutinize physical characteristics of a whole person and individual body systems. Percussion involves tapping the patient's skin with short, sharp strokes that cause a vibration to travel through the skin and to the upper layers of the underlying structures. Vibration is reflected by the tissues, and the character of the sound heard depends on the density of the structures that reflect the sound. Palpation uses touch to assess body organs and skin texture, temperature, moisture, turgor, tenderness, and thickness.
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