Faculty Perceptions of the Importance of Physical Assessment Skills Taught in Prelicensure Nursing Education

BACKGROUND Physical assessment skills are key components of nursing practice. On average, nurses perform a head-to-toe assessment 4 times during a shift. The frequency and importance of this technique have resulted in controversy in determining the essential components of assessment to ensure readiness for practice. PURPOSE The purpose of the study was to explore the perceived importance by faculty for physical assessment skills taught in prelicensure nursing education programs. METHODS This was a cross-sectional descriptive study using a 136-item questionnaire. The sample was nursing faculty (n = 402) teaching in an accredited nursing program in the United States. RESULTS Among the physical assessment skill categories, integumentary (4.57 +/- 0.51), central nervous (4.29 +/- 0.62), and cardiovascular (4.20 +/- 0.51) systems had the highest mean scores for the perceived level of importance of skill categories to be taught to prelicensure nursing students. CONCLUSION The data suggest that faculty perceive physical assessment skills associated with the integumentary, central nervous, and cardiovascular systems to be the most critical skills taught in a nursing assessment course.