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Cancel anytime. Main Body Percussion involves tapping the body to elicit sounds and determining whether the sounds are appropriate for a particular organ or area of the body. Try tapping different surfaces with your fingertips and compare the sounds: a firm hard surface like a wood desk or table, a thick textbook, a window, or even a drum. As you tap these surfaces, you can hear that each surface elicits a different sound based on the object’s consistency. This concept also applies to the body. Each body part that you percuss provides information about the consistency as well as the size and borders of the underlying structure. For example, the percussion sounds can tell you if the organ is:
Percussion can also help reveal the presence of masses, particularly if they are close to the surface of the body. There are three approaches to percussion, but the most widely used is indirect percussion, which is the application of a mediated force using parts of both of your hands. See Figure 1.8 demonstrating the technique of indirect percussion. Figure 1.8: Indirect percussion technique Indirect percussion is often used to assess the lungs and the abdomen (e.g., bowels, bladder, liver). The steps of this technique are as follows:
As a nurse, you need to become familiar with the expected percussion sounds so that you can identify what is normal and what is abnormal. See Figure 1.9 for the expected location of percussion sounds and Table 1.2 for an explanation of the types of percussion sounds heard including resonance, hyperresonance, tympany, dullness, and flatness. Figure 1.9: Expected location of percussion sounds Table 1.2: Percussion sounds
Another form of indirect percussion is used to assess the kidneys; this technique will be discussed in more detail when you learn about abdominal assessment. Direct percussion involves an unmediated approach with the use of only one of your hands; it is used to assess pain/tenderness associated with the sinuses or assessing the newborn/infant’s lungs. The steps of this technique involve flexing the index and pleximeter fingers of your dominant hand, and directly tapping the body’s surface with the tips of these fingers at a 90-degree angle. A third approach, tool-facilitated percussion, involves using an instrument to tap the body (e.g., a reflex hammer); this technique will be discussed in more detail when you learn about neurological assessment. You must keep your nails trimmed short to perform indirect and direct percussion so that you can perform the technique accurately and elicit a useful sound. It takes practice to perfect the technique. Keep in mind the phrase “don’t be a woodpecker” – when percussing, just use two taps on the pleximeter finger in each location, and focus on listening for sounds. With children, it is important to engage the client and incorporate play when appropriate. Percussion is one of the least used of all physical assessment techniques. It is a technique that is better confirmed using more accurate tests such as an X-ray. However, when such diagnostic tests are not readily available, such as in rural, remote or underdeveloped regions, percussion is an important non-invasive technique. Additionally, percussion is not effective when the client has a significant amount of adipose tissue or is very muscular, as these types of tissues modify the sounds you expect to hear. What is percussion and auscultation?Your doctor uses percussion to listen for sounds based on the organs or body parts underneath your skin. You'll hear hollow sounds when your doctor taps body parts filled with air and much duller sounds when your doctor taps above bodily fluids or an organ, such as your liver.
Which physical assessment technique is used to listen to sounds produced by the body?Auscultation is listening to the sounds of the body during a physical examination.
When Percussing over the stomach the nurse notes a loud drum like sound?When the stomach is percussed, the gastric bubble produces tympany, a high-pitched, drum-like sound. Dullness is a soft, muffled, thud-like tone heard when percussing over a solid body organ like the liver.
Which physical assessment technique is used to listen to sounds produced by the body quizlet?Auscultation is used to listen to sounds. Palpation, percussion and auscultation are not used to assess every body part or system.
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