“Rash on chest” is useless. A lesion named by morphology, size in centimeters, configuration and distribution lets a provider act from the hallway. Build that note here, then press the redness and watch what blanching tells you, choose the right viewing window for the patient's skin tone, and screen a mole with ABCDE.
1 · What is it made of?
Surface or depth?
2 · Finish the description
3 · Test yourself
Set the dials to describe
Skin tone of the patient
The physiology does not change. The visibility does.
The finding
Predict before you press
Your patient has deeply pigmented skin. What are you trying to detect?
Choose every window that belongs
You do not lower the standard of the assessment. You change where you look.
Toggle what you actually see
MaculeFlat, circumscribed color change, less than 1 cm
Press for 3 secondsThe fastest, highest-yield maneuver in the entire skin examination.
0
correct
0
attempted
9
findings
Pick your windowsThen check them against the sites that actually work.
Screen the lesionToggle the features you can see on the patient.