The general survey and the four techniques are the frame every other examination hangs on. Order inspection, palpation, percussion, auscultation for each region and find the one region where that order deliberately reverses, turn height and weight into numbers that mean something, and choose the sites where colour findings can actually be confirmed — in every skin tone.
1 · Which region are you examining?
2 · Tap the four techniques in the order you would perform them
Each technique is more disruptive than the one before it, so the least invasive data is collected while the body is still undisturbed. One region breaks the rule on purpose.
Measure — never ask
Reported heights and weights are consistently wrong, and a guessed weight in a patient on heparin, vancomycin or chemotherapy is a medication error waiting to happen. Enter measured values.
Weight change
Waist circumference
Measured at the top of the iliac crest at the end of a normal exhalation.
BMI is a screening number, not a diagnosis. It cannot tell muscle from fat and misclassifies very muscular patients, patients with ascites or oedema, and older adults who have lost lean mass. In ages 2–20 it is read as a percentile for age and sex: under 5th underweight, 5th–84th healthy, 85th–94th overweight, 95th and above obesity.
1 · Which colour finding are you assessing?
2 · Where will you look or feel to confirm it?
Select every site you would use. Pigment hides colour findings, so the site matters more than the colour name — in every patient, not only patients with dark skin.
Build the sequencePick a region, then tap the four techniques in order.
Technique referenceTap a technique to see what it is for and how it is performed.
BMIWeight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared.
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Weight change—
Percent of body weight—
Waist circumference—
Colour across skin tonesPick a finding on the left.