Physical Assessment Skills (PAS) in Nursing Courses: Are we Teaching the Right Things?

Physical assessment skills (PAS) are a fundamental skill in caring for patients. Nurses must be able to recognize a change in a patient’s condition and timely intervene to prevent negative patient outcomes. Nursing students are taught numerous skills which they often do not get an opportunity to practice while in the clinical setting. Registered nurses indicate new graduate nurses find it difficult to transition from learning physical assessment in nursing school, to deciding what and how to assess patients when they are in the clinical setting.