Assessment Of Cardiovascular System

1. Assessment Of Cardiovascular
System
Zia Ullah
Lecturer, KMU

2. Objectives
By the end of this session participants will be
able to:
• Identify pertinent cardiovascular history
questions.
• Obtain a cardiovascular history.
• Perform a cardiovascular physical
assessment.
• Document cardiovascular findings.
• Differentiate between normal and abnormal
findings.

3. Performing Cardiovascular
Assessment
Health History
1. Biographic data
 Age, Gender, Race, occupation, economic status
2. Current health status
 Chief Complaint
Chest pain
Palpitations
Syncope
Edema
Fatigue
Extremity Changes
Dyspnea & cough

4. Cont..
3. Past Health History
 Childhood illnesses
 Surgery
 Diagnostic procedure
 Serious injuries
 Serious chronic illnesses
 Immunization
 Medication

5. Cont..
4. Review of Systems
 General health survey
 Nails
 HEENT
 Respiratory
 GI
 GU
 Musculoskeletal
 Neurological
 Endocrine
 Hematological

6. Cont…
5.Psychosocial profile
 Health practices
 Typical day
 Nutritional patterns
 Activity/exercise patterns
 Sleep/rest pattern
 Personal habits
 Occupational health patterns

7. Physical Assessment
Equipment for physical exam
 Stethoscope
 Blood Pressure Cuff
 Moveable Light Source or Pen Light
 Scale for (JVP measurement)

8. Cont..
1. Performing a General Survey
General survey includes:
o General Appearance
o Vital signs
o Height
o weight

9. Cont..
2. Performing Head-to-Toe Physical Assessment
 General
 Integumentary
 HEENT
 Respiratory
 GI
 Musculoskeletal
 Neurological
 Endocrine
 Hematological

10. Cont..
3. Performing a Cardiovascular Physical Assessment
• Techniques
– Inspection
– Palpation
– Percussion
– Auscultation
• Positions
– Setting position
– Supine position
– Left lateral position

11. Inspection
Inspecting Carotid arteries and jugular
venous system
• Neck
• Measuring jugular venous pressure
Inspecting the pericardium

12. Assessment of central venous pressure.

13. Palpation
Palpate both neck and pericardium
In palpation we note the following:
• Pulse
• Heaving or lift
• Thrill

14. Percussion
• To determine cardiac size
• Usually not performed for cardiac borders,
• chest X ray study is a more accurate measure of
heart enlargement

15. Auscultation
Useful in assessing heart sounds and Vascular
sound.
• Auscultate Neck
– Carotid artery for bruits
– Jugular vein for venous hum
• Auscultate pericardium
– Normal heart sound ( S1, S2, S3 normal at
age below 30 years)
– Abnormal heart sounds ( S4, opening Snap,
Ejection Click, Friction Rub)