Heart (Cardiac) and Great Vessels Assessment

NCLEX

Watch More! Unlock the full videos with a FREE trial

Master

Take Quiz

Previous Lesson

Next Lesson

Included In This Lesson

Study Tools For Heart (Cardiac) and Great Vessels Assessment

Heart Sounds (Mnemonic)

Cardiac Valves Blood Flow (Mnemonic)

Murmur locations (Mnemonic)

Heart Murmurs (Cheatsheet)

Cardiac Auscultation Heart Sounds Cheatsheet (Cheatsheet)

Coronary Circulation (Cheatsheet)

Heart Sounds Locations (Image)

Vascular System (Image)

Heart Valves (Image)

Nursing Assessment (Book)

Outline

Overview

Major heart assessments:
1. Sounds
2. Murmurs
3. Apical pulse
The great vessels to be assessed are:
1. Carotid arteries
2. Jugular veins
3. Aorta

Nursing Points

General

Supplies needed
1. Pen light
2. Stethoscope

Assessment

Inspect
1. Anterior chest for visible apical pulse
  1. 5th ICS, Left MCL
2. Abdomen for pulsation
  1. May indicate an abdominal aortic aneurysm
3. Jugular venous pulse
  1. Lay patient at 30-45 degrees, turn head away
  2. Shine penlight on neck
  3. May see slight pulsation
  4. Jugular vein should flatten at 45 degrees or higher
  5. Jugular venous distention (engorged at 30 degrees or higher) may indicate heart failure and/or volume overload
Palpate
1. Carotid pulses – locate by sliding two fingers laterally from thyroid
  1. ONE AT A TIME
  2. Compare bilaterally
2. Apical pulsation to locate point of maximum impulse (PMI)
  1. Should be 5th ICS, Left MCL
Auscultate
1. Heart Sounds
  1. APE To Man
    1. Aortic
      1. 2nd ICS, RSB
    2. Pulmonic
      1. 2nd ICS, LSB
    3. Erb’s Point
      1. 3rd ICS, LSB
    4. Tricuspid
      1. 4th ICS, LSB
    5. Mitral
      1. 5th ICS, Left MCL
  2. Listen with Diaphragm, then Bell (for murmurs)
  3. Make note of quality and timing, presence of extra sounds
2. Carotid bruit – listen over carotid with bell
3. Auscultate to count Apical pulse (5th ICS, Left MCL) for a full minute.

Nursing Concepts

Any NEW murmurs should be reported to the provider right away
Refer to the Heart Sounds lesson in the Cardiac course for details on findings

View the FULL Outline

When you start a FREE trial you gain access to the full outline as well as:

SIMCLEX (NCLEX Simulator)
6,500+ Practice NCLEX Questions
2,000+ HD Videos
300+ Nursing Cheatsheets

Transcript

In this lesson we’re going to look at assessment of the heart and great vessels. When I say “great vessels” I’m talking about the carotid arteries, the jugular veins, and the aorta. So, as always, our assessment starts with inspection.
Before you do a physical assessment, make sure you ask your patient if they are experiencing any chest pain, tightness, or palpitations – and get detailed information about their symptoms, if they have any.

Then, start by facing your patient. We’ll start with the great vessels in the neck and work our way down.
First, make sure your patient is laying at about 30-45 degrees and look at both sides of their neck with a pen light for any jugular venous distention. If you see any pulsation, it should decrease and the vein should flatten as the patient sits up. If you see distention, even after they sit up, it could be a sign of heart failure.
Next, palpate your patient’s carotid arteries. You’ll find it by sliding two fingers laterally from the thyroid gland. It should be strong and regular. Make sure you only palpate one side at a time or you could cause too much vagal nerve stimulation and your patient will pass out on you!
Now we’ll move down to the anterior chest. You want to be able to see their chest, so you will need to remove their gown. For a woman, if they don’t have a bra or tank top on, you can expose one side at a time, or simply lift and adjust their gown to maintain their privacy and dignity.
Inspect the anterior chest for any signs of pulsation. It’s possible you could see the apical pulse, which would be at the 5th intercostal space, left midclavicular line. Then palpate this same spot for the point of maximum impulse, or PMI – this is the point at which the pulse is the strongest.
You’ll also want to inspect and palpate for any pulsations in the abdomen that could indicate an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Now that you’ve inspected and palpated, we move to auscultation. Using the diaphragm of your stethoscope, you’re going to listen using the APE To Man mnemonic. You should hear an S1 and an S2 sound at each location. A-Aortic, 2nd intercostal space, right sternal border. P-Pulmonic, 2nd intercostal space, left sternal border. E-Erb’s point, 3rd intercostal space, left sternal border. T-Tricuspid, 4th intercostal space, left sternal border. And then M-Mitral, 5th intercostal space, left mid-clavicular line.
While you are in the mitral location, go ahead and listen for a full minute to count the patient’s Apical pulse.
Then you’re going to go back and listen to those same locations with the bell of your stethoscope. As you do this, you’re listening for murmurs and extra heart sounds like an S3 or S4. If you hear something abnormal, make note of what location you heard it at, the timing of it, and the quality of the sound.
While you have the bell of your stethoscope on, you can cover up your patient and return to their neck to listen over their carotid arteries for a bruit, which is like a whooshing sound that may indicate narrowing of the carotid arteries – which is never a good side. Again, one side at a time.

That’s it for the assessment of the heart and great vessels. Any abnormalities should be reported to the provider right away, especially new developments. Make sure you also check out the peripheral vascular assessment to learn how to assess the rest of the circulatory system.

Heart (Cardiac) and Great Vessels Assessment

Watch More! Unlock the full videos with a FREE trial

What email should we send your results to?

Included In This Lesson

Study Tools For Heart (Cardiac) and Great Vessels Assessment

Viewing Study Tools Require A Membership

Outline

Overview

Nursing Points

General

Assessment

Nursing Concepts

View the FULL Outline

Transcript

View the FULL Transcript

NCLEX

Study Plan Lessons

About Us

Trusted Learning Hub

Products

Most Popular Lessons

Welcome Back