The Rationale for Objective Assessment

This essay aims to summarise what a clinical assessment consists of. Southorn (2010) states that objective clinical assessment is the method by which you discover the clinical signs of the pathology rather than just symptoms. The examination is carried out systematically and consistently looking for pattern of signs and symptoms that leads to a diagnosis (Brukner and Khan, 2011). According to Hattam and Smeatham (2010) Clinical examination is the key part to diagnosis. It enables the therapist to both assemble information and to interpret the findings on order to assist in identifying the nature and stage of the patients disease or injury, determine the need for further investigations, provides a prognosis, guide treatment and measure outcome (Hattam and Smeatham 2010 and Magee, 2014). Therefore this essay will discuss each component individually and show how each component contributes t…(short extract)