ASSESSMENT OF THE HEART

• Inspect for precordium movement at the 5th intercostal space, left midclavicular line.
• Precordial impulses


  are pulsations originating from the heart or great vessels that are visible or palpable on the anterior chest wall.
• Aortic, Pulmonic, Erb's Point, Tricuspid, Mitral


  Traditional landmark location:
• Mitral


  it is the point of maximum impulse
• Palpate for Carotid pulses one at a time
• Auscultate the heart in the traditional landmarks in left side-lying and leaning forward positions
• Hepatojugular reflux


  is the distension of the neck veins precipitated by the maneuver of firm pressure over the liver.
• Hepatojugular reflux


  It is seen in tricuspid regurgitation, heart failure due to other non-valvular causes, and other conditions including constrictive pericarditis, cardia tamponade, and inferior vena cava obstruction
• temporal, carotid, brachial, ulnar, radial, femoral, popliteal, dorsalis pedis artery, posterior tibial artery


  Peripheral Pulses
• Modifies Allen test


  this test is used to check the overall blood supply to the hand
• Buerger's Test


  a test that is done to assess the adequacy of arterial blood supply to the legs
• Brodie-Trendelenburg test


  is used to determine the competency of the valves in the superficial and deep veins in the leg.
• Manual compression test


  to test venous valve competence in patients with varicose vein
• Capillary refill test


  is a rapid test used for assessing the blood flow through peripheral tissues.
• Capillary refill test


  It's a quick test performed on the nail beds to monitor the amount of blood flow to tissues and dehydration.
• Homan’s sign test


  also called dorsiflexon sign test is a physical examination procedure that is used to test for Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT).
• Pitting Edema Test


  to determine extent of water retention