Health assessment is the foundation of safely caring for patients across the life span. Nurses need a concise, easy-to-follow guide that provides essential coverage of a routine head-to-toe focused or comprehensive health assessment. The second edition of Essential Health Assessment continues to be a core textbook for the undergraduate student nurse or a reference guide for the practicing nurse. Nurses must identify normal from abnormal findings and recognize when a finding is outside the spectrum of "normal." This book concentrates on essential, need-to-know information and techniques and excludes the nonessential information that does not need to be emphasized for health assessment"--