Exam 2 Practice Flashcards: Mental Status, Skin, Nutrition, and Thorax/Lungs

Vocabulary terms and definitions from lecture notes covering mental status exams, skin and nail assessments, nutrition status, and respiratory system structure and sounds.

Mood

What the patient says they feel emotionally.

Affect

The emotional state that an observer sees, such as irritability, anxiety, or a flat affect.

Aphasia

A language problem where a patient may have trouble speaking, understanding speech, reading, or writing.

Expressive aphasia

A condition where the patient understands what is being said but has trouble forming words; speech may be slow or broken.

Receptive aphasia

A condition where the patient has trouble understanding what others are saying, and though they can speak, their words may not make sense.

Global aphasia

A severe language impairment involving both understanding and speaking.

Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)

An objective quantitative tool that evaluates the cerebral cortex and brainstem through eye-opening, verbal, and motor responses.

Delirium

A condition with an acute onset that fluctuates throughout the day and is often reversible; involves impaired cognition and consciousness.

Dementia

A chronic, slow, and progressive decline in memory and cognition that is generally irreversible.

A&O x4

A state of consciousness where the patient is oriented to person, place, time, and situation.

Skin Turgor

A measure of skin elasticity and hydration, assessed by pinching a fold of skin over the sternum or forearm.

Tenting

An abnormal finding where skin slowly returns to place after being pinched, indicating possible dehydration.

ABCDE Rule

A mnemonic used to assess suspicious skin lesions: Asymmetry, Border, Color, Diameter, and Elevation/Enlargement/Evolution.

Macule

A flat, circumscribed color change in the skin, such as a freckle.

Papule

A small, raised bump on the skin.

Nodule

An elevated, firm, palpable lesion that is greater than $5\,mm$.

Vesicle

A small fluid-filled blister.

Pustule

A raised skin lesion filled with pus.

Wheal

A raised, irregular area of edema commonly seen with hives.

Nail Clubbing

An abnormal increase in the nail angle to $180^{\circ}$ or greater, often associated with chronic hypoxia.

Paronychia

An infection around the nail fold.

Capillary Refill

A test of tissue blood flow where color should return to the nail bed in $3$ seconds or less.

Alopecia

The medical term for hair loss.

Anthropometric measurements

Objective data used for nutrition assessment, including height, weight, BMI, and waist circumference.

Undernutrition

A state occurring when nutritional reserves are depleted because intake does not meet daily needs or metabolic demands.

Overnutrition

Consumption of nutrients in excess of body needs, increasing risks for obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.

Visceral pleura

The thin, slippery membrane that covers the outside of the lungs.

Parietal pleura

The membrane that lines the chest wall and the diaphragm.

Bronchial sounds

Normal breath sounds heard over the trachea/larynx that are loud, high-pitched, and harsh.

Vesicular sounds

Soft, low-pitched, gentle breath sounds heard over most peripheral lung fields.

Crackles

Fine or coarse popping sounds heard during inspiration, suggesting fluid in the alveoli or pneumonia.

Wheezes

High-pitched musical sounds caused by narrowed airways, often seen with asthma or COPD.

Rhonchi

Low-pitched, snoring/gurgling sounds caused by secretions in larger airways.

Stridor

A high-pitched sound on inspiration indicating an urgent upper airway obstruction.

A/P Diameter

The ratio of the front-to-back width of the chest to the side-to-side width, normally $1:2$.

Barrel Chest

An increased A/P diameter with a ratio closer to $1:1$, often associated with COPD or emphysema.

Hyperresonance

A percussion sound indicating too much air in the lungs, such as emphysema or pneumothorax.

Pack-years

A calculation used to estimate smoking-related disease risk: packs smoked per day $\times$ years smoked.