ASSESSMENT OF THE HEAD AND NECK

I’m Jonabiv T. Gorospe from BSN 1-2 Grp 3. Today I will be performing a return demonstration
in the assessment of the head and neck.

ASSESSMENT SKILL RATING

1. Perform the hand- washing
First we need to wash our hands using the medical
hand washing technique to prevent pathogen from
spreading and causing further complications.
2. Check the completeness of our gathered
materials needed (gloves, penlight, small glass of
water, stethoscope)
3. Explain procedure to patient.
Good morning ma’am I’m JTG a student nurse from
ISU. Can you confirm your name, age and bday?
Do you mind me calling you…?

Soooo I am here to perform an assessment of your

head and neck
In order for me to know if there are some
abnormalities with your head and neck .

This assessment will require me to touch you, Is that

okay with you?

I assure you that every information I gather will be

kept private and confidential, between you me and
attending physician.

“I am going to ask questions about your past health

history to screen for possible intracranial injury:”
Have you experienced recent trauma to the head?
Are you experiencing any:
Headache? Dizziness? Seizures? Poor vision? Loss of
consciousness?
Do you participate in any contact sports, cycling, and
skate boarding?
Do you have any questions before we begin?
You’re free to ask me throughout the assessment

WEAR GLOVES- To protect to protect patients and

ourselves from the spread of diseases and germs,

HEAD AND FACE

1. Inspect head noting for size, shape, and
configuration.
-Our patient head is normally held upright and
midline to the trunk, no jerking or bobbing that
indicates a tremor.
-The skull is round which no skull deformities from
any trauma.
-Facial bones are normal with no enlargement
resulting from abnormality.
- indicates NORMALITY

2. Palpate head for consistency while wearing gloves.

-were checking for any lumps, bumps, indentation
“Ask if anything hurts”
-head is smooth and skull is hard and no lessions or
abnormalities
3.Inspect face symmetry, features, movement,
expression and skin condition.
-I’m looking for the symmetry of the face, when I’m
looking for symmetry, I’m looking for the eyebrows,
eyes, nasolabial folds and the sides of the mouth.
They should all be symmetrical.

-If there is one side that was drooping, it would

possibly indicate various neurological disorders such
as a facial nerve paralysis which affect different
nerves that innervate muscles of the face.

-Skin has common lessions which are acnes but

normal and healthy.
-Movement and expression indicates no
abnormalities.

4. Palpate temporal artery for tenderness and

elasticity(from ear to temple)
-patient has a normal pulsation, no abnormal
 tenderness and elasticity which means it is
normal.

5. Palpate temporomandibular joint

-put my hands here (joint where jaw connect
skull)
- asking client to open and close mouth.
-I’m checking for any clicking or crepitus or any
pain.
ASK;
- pain?
- Have you have a history of frequent headaches?
-all is NORMAL/ no symptoms of
temporomandibular disorders

TOTAL
NECK
1.Inspect neck while it is in slightly extended position
(and using a light) ----your neck is symmetric and no
presence of any lumps and masses.
2. Inspect movement of thyroid and cricoid cartilages
and thyroid gland by having the client to swallow a
small sip of water.

-your thyroid and cricoid cartilage moved upwards

symmetrically which is normally

3. Inspect the cervical vertebrae(c1-c7)

-flex neck a little(yumoko)
-your cervical vertebrae is visible and it seems to be
normal.

4. Inspect neck for range of motion

-turn chin to right and left
-touch each ear to the shoulder
- touch chin to chest and lift chin to ceiling.
-RANGE OF MOTION IS SMOOTH and SWIFT which is
good.
 5. Palpate trachea
-placing finger in the sternal notch, feeling to
each side, and palpating the tracheal
rings(karabukub) with thumb
-trachea has no masses or abnormalities
-If there are abnormalities, this would cause
displacement laterally.
6. Palpate the thyroid gland.(from behind)
-thyroid gland is hardly detectible which is a good
indication.
-the gland is often only detectable upon palpation if a
pathology is present, such as nodules or enlargement
which can indicate presence of viral infections.
7. Auscultate thyroid gland for bruits if the gland is
enlarged (using the bell of stethoscope)
-like this
-bruits is often considered pathognomonic for grave’s
disease

8. Palpate lymph nodes w/ finger pads using circular

motion.
a. Preauricular nodes (front of ears)

b. Postauricular nodes (behind the ears)

c. Occipital nodes (posterior base of skull)(near

behind ears)

d. Tonsillar nodes (right under the chin)

e. Submandibular nodes (below jaw)

f. Submental nodes (a few centimeters behind the tip

of the mandible); use one hand.

g. Superficial Cervical nodes (behind the

sternomastoid muscle-biggest diagonal neck muscle)

h. Posterior cervical nodes (posterior to the

sternocleidomastoid and anterior to the trapezius on
the posterior triangle)

i. Deep cervical chain nodes (all the way down the

neck)(sternomastoid musle)
j. Supraclavicular nodes (hook fingers over clavicles
and feel deeply between the clavicles and the
sternomastoid muscles)

-not feeling a lymph nodes is a normal finding

-if you feel a lymph node, assess the size, shape,
delimitation, mobility, consistency, and tenderness
and investigate further about the enlargement of
lymph nodes.

TOTAL
Grand TOTAL