M4D2: Eyes and Ears Assessment

Module 4 (Week 9)
After completing the virtual lab experience case studies of eyes or ears, describe in your
post what you discovered and how you plan to achieve competence in the skills that are
new to you.

Working on a neuro/cardiac unit I have had little experience with using an otoscope or
ophthalmic scope in regards to assessing my patients. Reviewing assessment techniques,
normal and abnormal findings, and how to use the equipment properly has been a great
refresher for me. As they say developing competence in a skill requires practice,
unfortunately in my current role I do not believe I will have much chance to further
develop these skills but it is good to have some baseline knowledge regarding these
subjects.
One application I can imagine may be useful in the future in regards to the material and
my practice is cerumen impactions and how patients commonly present with them. I have
had several patients present with this issue in my own practice and my first thought did
not go to this issue. In an acute setting usually my first knee-jerk reaction tends to be
suspecting acute neurological issues resulting from a possible stroke, TIA, or seizure.
Cerumen impactions tend to be fairly common and patients may not report hearing loss
that results from them unless they are directly asked whether they have had any recent
hearing impairments. The use of closed ended questions that elicit yes or no responses
can be useful in these situations to identify abnormalities in these cases (Jarvis, 2016).
References
Jarvis, C. P. (2016). Physical Examination & Health Assessment. In C. P. Jarvis, Physical
Examination & Health Assessment (p. 328). St. Louis: Elsevier.