Question

A student nurse is performing a musculoskeletal assessment on a 2 year old. When doing the assessment, it is important for the student nurse to start with?

1) Palpating the bony prominences of the body.
2) Participating in a range of motion exercises.
3) Participating in weight-bearing exercises.
4) Inspecting the body visually.

Answer 1

The first step in the musculoskeletal assessment of a 2-year-old by a student nurse should be to visually inspect the child's body for obvious signs of abnormality before moving on to more direct forms of examination.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a student nurse is performing a musculoskeletal assessment on a 2-year-old, the most appropriate step to begin with is to inspect the body visually. This non-invasive approach provides an initial assessment of the child's overall physical condition, looking for any obvious signs of injury, deformities, or asymmetries in the body's structure. Moreover, starting with a visual inspection helps in gaining the trust of a young child and can guide subsequent parts of the physical examination such as palpation and range of motion exercises.