Use observation to concentrate on the patient's functioning in his own environment and guide systems assessment. Only when a systems assessment is incorporated into a functional health assessment can you develop a realistic plan of care, one that meets the patient's needs.

Evaluate Your Current Approach to Physical Assessment
Evaluate your current approach to physical assessment. You may choose to evaluate pedal pulses at the same time you assess how well a patient can put on footwear (M0660), rather than systematically palpate all pulses at one point during the visit. It may be just as logical to assess breath sounds at the time you are interviewing a patient about dyspnea (M0490) or discussing the use of a respiratory treatment or oxygen (M0500, M0790, M0810, and M0820). You can just as easily assess ability to prepare a meal while assessing range of motion and muscle tone of the upper extremities.