Chapter 5. Physical Assessment
Guidelines for Inspection
▪ Inspection is a simple but highly skilled technique.
▪ Inspection involves the use of sight, hearing, and smell in a systematic assessment of infants and children.
▪ Inspection is essential at the beginning of the health assessment to detect obvious health concerns and to establish priorities.
▪ Inspection should be thorough and should involve each area of the body.
▪ Body parts are assessed for shape, color, symmetry, odor (Table 5-1), and abnormalities.
| Odor | Significance |
|---|---|
| Acetone or fruity odor | Might indicate diabetic acidosis |
| Ammonia | Might indicate urinary tract infection |
| Fecal odor (breath or diaper area) | Associated with soiled diapers, fecal incontinence, bowel obstruction |
| Foul-smelling stool | Might indicate gastroenteritis, cystic fibrosis, malabsorption syndromes |
| Halitosis | Associated with poor oral hygiene, dental caries or abscess, throat infection, sinusitus, constipation, foreign body in nasal passage |
| Musty odor | Associated with infection underneath a cast or dressing |
| Sweet, thick odor | Might indicate Pseudomonas infection |
▪ Careful inspection requires good lighting.
Guidelines for Palpation
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