English for Nursing 2

Topic 5

HEAD, FACE, AND NECK ASSESSMENT

Instructional objective
The students are expected to be able:

 to act out a conversation and practice of assessing head, face, and neck, and
 to write a nursing documentation of head, face, and neck assessment result.

Related Vocabularies
Direction. Study the following vocabularies related to head, face, and neck assessment and practice the
pronunciation. Accomplish the sound of some words in blanks by searching independently.
 Assess /............../ (v)  Assessment /............../ (n)
 Observe /............../ (v)  Observation /............../ (n)
 Inspect /inspekt/ (v)  Inspection /inspeksyen/ (n)
 Palpate /palpeit/ (v)  Palpation /palpesyen/ (n)
 Press /pres/ (v)
 Knock / nok / (v)  Percussion /............../ (n)
  Auscultation /............../ (n)
 Tilt /tilt/ (v) 
 Gentle /.............../ (adj)  Gently /jentli/ (adv)
 Tight / tait/ (adj)  Tightly /taitly/ (adj)

Reading
Direction. Read the text below and get some good insights. Then, asnwer the following questions.

Physical Examination Skills

Inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation are examination techniques that
enable the nurse to collect a broad range of physical data about patients.
1. Inspection is the process of observation, a visual examination of the patient’s
body parts to detect normal characteristic or significant physical signs.
2. Palpation involves the use of the sense of touch. Giving gentle pressure or deep
pressure using your hand is the main activity of palpation.
3. Percussion involves tapping the body with fingertips to evaluate the size,
borders, and consistency of body organs and discover fluids in body cavities.
4. Auscultation is listening to sounds produced by the body.

1
1 What activity is classified as inspection?
a. Inspecting the mouth and throat.
b. Testing deep tendon reflexes using hammer.
c. Checking the tender areas with hand.
d. Pressing abdomen deeply to check the condition of underlying organ.
e. Checking heart beat by using stethoscope

2 What activity is classified as palpation?

a. Examining patient’s respiratory
b. Asking the patient to stand up to find whether there is scoliosis or not
c. Checking the tender areas with hand
d. Observing the color of the eyes
e. Observing the movement of air through the lungs

3 What activity is classified as percussion?

a. Observing the movement of air through the lungs
b. Preparing a good lighting then observing the body parts
c. Checking heart beat by using stethoscope
d. Testing deep tendon reflexes using hammer
e. Inspecting the mouth and throat

4 What activity is classified as auscultation?

a. Checking heart beat by using stethoscope
b. Inspecting the mouth and throat
c. Examining patient’s respiratory
d. Observing the color of the eyes
e. Testing deep tendon reflexes using hammer

2
Useful Expressions
Direction. Study the following useful expressions when assessing head, face, and neck and practice
them.
A. Greeting
 Hi, Mr. Stanford. How are you?
 Good morning, Sir.

B. Self-Introduction
 My name is Nancy.
 I am Nurse Shanti. I will take care of you today.

C. Explaining what you are going to do

 I am here to ....  I am here to assess your head,
face, and neck.
 I am going to ....  I am going to press your head.
 It is time for me to ....  It is time for me to assess your
 I need to .... head, face, and neck.
 I want to ....  I need to palpate your face.
 I want to ask you a couple of
questions.

D. Giving questions
 Do you ...............?
 Any problem with your ......?
 Do you smoke?
 Do you chew tobacco?
 Do you have any cold recently?
 Any problem with your thyroid?
 Any problem with your face?

E. Giving instructions
 (V1) ............  Open your mouth.
 Close your mouth
 Put your chin up.
 Put your chin down.
 Turn your head to the right.
 Turn your head to the left.
 Would/Could/Can you ...............?  Would you open your mouth?
 Could you frown?
 Can you tilt your head onto your
shoulder?
 I want you to ............
 I want you to rise your eyebrows.
 I want you to puff out your
cheeks.
 I want you to flex your neck with
chin toward.

3
Integrated Listening and Speaking Exercise
Direction. Accomplish the following conversation then act out the dialogue.

Nurse : Good morning, Sir.

Patient : Good morning.
Nurse : I am Nurse Shanti. I will take care of you today. Well, now it is time for
me (1).................................................. Have you experienced any cold or
infection recently?
Patient : No, I haven’t.
Nurse : Ok. Now I want you (2).................................................. with chin toward the
ceiling.
Ok, Fine. That’s it.

Communication Exercise
Direction. Choose a pair and write a complete conversation on the acts of assessing head, face, and
neck. You can use the useful expressions above. Then, practice and present your communication
practice.

Nursing Documentation
Direction. Write a nursing documentation of the result of head, face, and neck assessment. You can
refer to the table below for jotting down what you have to find out.
Part of Body What to check? How is the condition?
1. Head Lumps/bumps
Lesions
size
 Hair Distribution Even, expected?
Appearance Shiny, soft?
 Scalp Cleanliness Clean from or dirty with
dandruff? Oily?
 Skull Shape Rounded?
2. Face Symmetry Symmetrical or asymmetrical?

Lumps/bumps
Lessions
 Skin Colour
Health No acnes/pimples?
 Cheeks Size
 Lymph nodes masses Felt or not felt?
3. Neck Range of motion

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You can fill the following form after assessing your client’s head, face, and neck.
NURSING DOCUMENTATION

I. Patient’s identity
Name : Address :

Sex : male/female*
Age : Phone number :
Assessment Results
Head :

Face :

Neck :

Day, Date, Time :

Assessor : Nurse .........