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Straightforward, easy-to-understand coverage gives you the essential knowledge and confidence to perform an effective health assessment and physical examination. Clear differentiation between basic skills and advanced skills helps you separate basic procedures from those that would be performed by an advanced practitioner or only in special circumstances. Proven two-column format links assessment techniques with normal and abnormal findings. Full-color photos and illustrations demonstrate how to perform key assessment techniques. UNIQUE! Concept Overview boxes present core concepts in the context of health assessment. UNIQUE! Clinical Reasoning boxes provide insight by explaining the thought process of an experienced nurse making a clinical decision. Patients with Situational Variations sections address special circumstances or needs of patients who are hearing impaired, in wheelchairs, or have other limitations. Documenting Expected Findings sections demonstrate how to chart normal findings, including documentation in the electronic health record. Case Studies at the end of each chapter give subjective and objective data about a patient and ask you to use clinical judgment skills to answer questions. Health Assessment Across the Life Span unit contains four chapters that cover the examination of patients of different ages, including older adults, pregnant patients, infants, children, and adolescents. Synthesis and Application of Health Assessment unit provides guidelines for combining the body system assessments into one comprehensive examination, for communicating the findings to other health care professionals, and for adapting the assessment to patients in a hospital setting. NEW! NGN-style case studies provi