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Nursing vocabulary · Patient Assessment

Assessment

Meaning in nursing, with examples

/əˈsɛsmənt/nounCore term

In nursing, assessment means: A careful, organised check of a patient's physical and mental condition and needs, used to plan and adjust their nursing care.

In Turkish: değerlendirme, tanılama, veri toplama

How it is used

Nurses carry out or complete an assessment on admission, at the start of every shift and whenever something changes. There are many types: pain assessment, risk assessment, skin assessment, falls assessment. In the nursing process, assessment is the first step, before planning and giving care.

Example sentences

  1. I'll do a full assessment when she comes back from theatre.

  2. The admission assessment showed that she is at high risk of falls.

Common collocations

  • carry out an assessment
  • initial assessment
  • risk assessment
  • pain assessment
  • nursing assessment
  • medical historyInformation about a patient's past and present illnesses, operations, medicines, allergies and family health, collected to guide their care.
  • care planA written plan that sets out a patient's nursing needs, the goals of care and the actions the team will take to meet them.
  • pain scoreA number that shows how strong a patient's pain is, most often on a scale from 0 (no pain) to 10 (the worst pain imaginable).
  • fall riskHow likely a patient is to fall, judged from things like age, medicines, confusion, poor balance or earlier falls.
  • baselineA patient's usual or starting state, such as their normal blood pressure, mobility or mental state, used for comparing later changes.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Patient Assessment

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.