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CERT Head-to-Toe Assessment Demonstration Transcript
Well this finishes our head to toe chapter, lecture portion of the survey. We're going
to do the demonstration portion of it right now, in terms of actual hands on. Do we have
any questions before we get started? No questions before we get started? Well, in this portion
I'm going to need a volunteer. Any volunteers? Takers for this portion of it? Anyone?
I'll do it.
Sure, come on up. Thank you very much. Now you do realize I'm going to be touching you
from head to toe. Yes I just want to make sure you're in agreement with that. All right,
I'm going to move this right here, and I'm going to help you onto our table.
Okay, is this a good place?
Absolutely.
All right.
Okay, you're safe here. Hang on. All right. All right. So, I'm going to use gloves, in
terms of personal protection with regards to assessment. This is covered in your chapters.
And again, I'm going to be doing a head to toe survey, with regards to checking for swelling,
bumps, bruising, and any type of deformities. Okay, this is part of the assessment skill
that will help us determine, or gather any more information with regards to the injuries
and extent of injuries of our patient.
So with that being said, I'm going to talk my way through the process which helps me
remember and if the person is sort of conscious or in and out, at least they know exactly
what I am going to do. Okay, so I'm going to start with her head, and work my way down
her body. So, here we go. I'm going to touch your head right now, see if I find any bumps,
bruises or deformities, any bleeding or anything like that. Every now and again, pulling my
hand back to see if I find any bleeding or any fluid on my hands. Okay, looking at the
ears, the head, coming down along the face, making sure I have symmetry along the face.
Okay, looking at the neck. Looking for symmetry, looking at both sides, see if anything is
out of the ordinary that I may find or see. Checking the back of the neck, make sure you
reach all the way around, because that one spot you may miss, may be something that is
very severe.
Checking the shoulders, coming down the arm, checking it very quickly, checking for any
bleeding, deformities. Every now and again, pulling your hands back, looking at your patient.
Okay, walking around the side, now this is very important, because you do not want to
reach over the person, or slip, trip or fall on top of the person, which will make it worse
for the victim. Checking the other side as I did before. Okay, walking around the other
side.
Continue on with the chest, coming right down. Checking the ribs also. Moving from the ribs
onto the abdomen. We check the sides, and you want to check both sides evenly, and you
are just pressing in, to see if they have, what is called rebound tenderness, or if you
feel something that is completely solid in an area that should not be. Okay, so now the
abdomen is done, we're going to move on down to the hips. We're going to take the hips
and push down and you want to push in. Feeling for any crepitates, or any movement of the
bones, or anything of that nature. And always visualizing and looking, as well as every
now and again, looking at the patients face, okay? Now this is where you have to be really
personal also, you have to reach in, to make sure, you're not missing any spots or any
bloods by feeling around.
Okay, take the shoe off, check for warmth. Okay. Walk to the other side again. Okay,
close and personal, look for any blood, deformities, abrasions, bruises. Okay, check for warmth
and movement...crepitates and movement. Okay, so we've done the head to toe survey.
The last thing we want to do, is check the back. This generally requires two people,
in order to assist in terms of moving the patient because you may assume that the person
has a neck and back injury. So you would take the arm that you have already checked, okay,
move it up over the persons head. Okay, as a unison, we'll roll towards me, to make sure
I'm in control of her at all times. Okay, keeping her head, back and neck straight,
roll towards me. I have her. Okay, check the back of her head again, confirming your findings
initially, seeing if anything has changed along the way. No bleedings, bumps, bruises,
crepitates found, roll back off, no deformities. Lay her back down, position of comfort, probably
cover her up to give her some decency and keep her warm. And something to consider along
the way as you're doing this, is to, if she had glasses on, or something like that, to
give them a sense of security, make sure the glasses go back on the person, just to make
sure.
One of the last things you want to note, is that you have to document any findings you
may have. Do we have any questions? If no questions, what we're going to do right now,
help you up right here. And we're going to break off into groups, in order so we can
demonstrate on each other and go from there, making sure we understand the head to toe
survey and the patient assessment portion of this chapter. If no questions, we'll get
started on that. Okay. All right. Thank you.