Procedures and skills

A way to estimate a due date: take the first day of the last normal period, count back 3 months and add 7 days.

The skin underneath a fingernail or toenail.

A soft tube passed through a nostril to the back of the nose, so the tongue cannot block the airway.

A thin plastic tube with two short prongs that sit in the nostrils to give oxygen.

Removing air and fluid from the stomach through a nasogastric tube attached to suction.

A thin, flexible tube passed through the nose and down the esophagus into the stomach.

A machine that turns liquid drug into a fine mist that a person breathes in through a mouthpiece or mask.

An operation that removes the lymph nodes of the neck, with the fat around them, for cancer of the head and neck.

A thin, hollow, pointed metal tube used to inject drugs or fluids into the body or to draw fluid out.

Working without a needle, such as an IV connector that a syringe or tubing attaches to directly.

An injury in which a needle that may have been used on someone pierces the skin.

Pressure that is lower than the pressure around it, so air or fluid is drawn in.

Surgery to remove a kidney, all of it or part of it.

An injection of local anesthetic around a nerve or a group of nerves that numbs the area they supply.

A device that sends small electrical pulses to a nerve and watches the muscle it supplies twitch, to measure muscle relaxation or to find a nerve.

Having to do with both the nerves and the blood vessels of a body part.

An assessment of blood flow, feeling and movement in a limb below an injury, cast, splint or surgery.

Testing of every newborn for serious hidden conditions, using a few drops of blood from the heel plus hearing and heart checks.

Done without breaking the skin or putting instruments into the body.

Nothing by mouth: an order that a client must not eat or drink anything.

A nurse's organized collection of information about a client's health, needs and responses, the first step of the nursing process.