PATIENT POSITION
A nursing student is asked to place a patient in the standard reference position: standing erect, feet parallel, arms at the sides, and palms facing forward.
What is anatomical position?
A patient injures both the elbow and wrist. The nurse needs to describe the wrist's position in relation to the elbow.
What is distal?
A patient falls while skating and catches themselves with their hand. They point to the area where a watch would normally be worn when asked where it hurts.
What is the carpal region?
A surgeon wants to examine structures toward the front of the patient's body separately from structures toward the back.
What is a frontal section?
During an abdominal assessment, the nurse places the stethoscope directly over the patient's navel. This is the anatomical region being assessed.
What is the umbilical region?
A patient has two wounds on the leg. Wound A is near the knee, while Wound B is near the ankle. Compared with Wound B, Wound A is described this way.
What is superior?
A patient falls directly onto the kneecap. The nurse compares the injury's location with the hollow area behind the same knee.
What is anterior?
A patient reports pain where the upper thigh joins the trunk. The nurse must document the anatomical region rather than writing “groin.”
What is the inguinal region?
An MRI image allows the provider to view structures on the patient's left separately from structures on the patient's right, but the two portions are not necessarily equal.
What is a sagittal section?
A patient reports discomfort in the lower-middle portion of the abdomen, directly below the navel rather than toward either hip.
What is the hypogastric region?
During a physical assessment, a nursing student positions the patient standing upright with the feet parallel and arms at the sides. The instructor stops the assessment because one detail involving the hands prevents the patient from being in the standard reference position. This correction must be made.
What is turn the palms to face forward?
Two incisions are visible on the patient's abdomen. One is near the navel and the other is near the patient's side. The incision near the navel has this relationship to the other.
What is medial?
A patient is struck near the eye during a sporting event. The nurse documents bruising in this anatomical region.
What is the orbital region?
Before a neurological procedure, a provider requests an image that divides the patient into two perfectly equal right and left halves. The nursing student is asked for the other term, besides midsagittal, used to describe this exact section.
What is a median section?
During an abdominal assessment using the nine-region system, the nurse identifies discomfort in both upper outer areas, one on each side of the epigastric region. These paired regions are involved.
What are the hypochondriac regions?
A nurse documents swelling near the patient's ankle. Compared with the knee, the swelling has this directional relationship.
What is inferior?
An IV complication affects the patient's forearm. The nurse notes that the elbow is closer to the shoulder than the affected area.
What is proximal?
After striking the front of the knee on a table, a patient points directly over the kneecap when asked where the pain is located.
What is the patellar region?
After a car accident, a patient receives a CT scan. The nurse sees a series of images that look like individual slices moving from the patient's chest downward through the abdomen.
What is a transverse section?
A patient reports pain in the lower abdomen on both sides of the hypogastric region. Using the nine-region system, the nurse identifies these two areas.
What are the right and left iliac regions?
A patient has a small scrape involving only the skin, while the muscle beneath it is unaffected. The scrape has this relationship to the muscle.
What is superficial?
During a knee assessment, the nurse finds swelling in the hollow behind the knee. The nurse compares its location with the kneecap.
What is posterior?
While starting an IV, the nurse selects the depression on the front side of the elbow rather than the forearm or upper arm. This anatomical region is being accessed.
What is the antecubital region?
Two images both divide a patient's body into right and left portions. Image A produces equal halves, while Image B produces unequal portions. The specific section represented by Image A is this.
What is a midsagittal section?
A trauma patient has tenderness on both sides of the abdomen at the same horizontal level as the navel, but the navel itself is painless. The nurse would document tenderness in these paired regions.
What are the right and left lumbar regions?