What it means
One of the four physical assessment skills, with inspection, percussion and auscultationaws-kul-TAY-shunListening to the sounds inside the body, usually with a stethoscope.Full entry . With light or deeper pressure, the nurse feels for temperature, moisture, pulses, swelling, tenderness, masses and the size of organs. Pulses and edemaih-DEE-muhSwelling caused by extra fluid trapped in the body's tissues.Full entry are checked by palpation.
For the nurse
Warm your hands, explain what you will do and press painful areas last. On the abdomen, palpate after you listen, so the bowel sounds are not changed first.
In a chart
"Pedal pulses palpable bilaterally; abdomen soft, nontender to palpation."
Remember it
Palpation is with the palm; palpitation is the heart pitter-pattering.
At a glance
| Spanish | palpación |
|---|---|
| Also written | palpate, palpated, palpating, palpates, palpable |
Easy to confuse with
palpitation
The feeling of your own heartbeat as pounding, racing, fluttering or skipping.
Related terms
assess
To gather information about a client by looking, listening, asking, measuring and examining.
edema
Swelling caused by extra fluid trapped in the body's tissues.
auscultation
Listening to the sounds inside the body, usually with a stethoscope.