Wiki Clarification on Comprehensive examination requirements

[bladesbigdaddy]

Hi all, I work with a Orthopaedic surgeon and I am a bit confused as to what is needed for a comprehensive examination. Basically I need to know what is considered a full examination of a single organ system when pertaining to orthopaedics.
As an example, if we do an examination of a knee, what exactly is needed to consider it a "complete" examination. Thanks for any help.

 

[jmcpolin]

if you go to E&Muniversity.com it has each single system exam listed out for the 1997 guidelines.

 

[aaron.lucas]

a comprehensive exam is considered either a) a multisystem exam of 8 or more systems, or b) a complete exam of a single organ system. the complete exam of an organ system is considered total body, or encompassing all body areas (head, neck, thorax, abdomen, and all 4 extremities). therefore an orthopaedic exam of the knee (I'm assuming musculoskeletal and maybe neurological) would never be considered comprehensive. for a comprehensive exam pertaining to ortho, you would probably need a total body musculoskeletal exam, which would include full ROM tests of all extremities + the neck, as well as muscular strength tests, palpation, checking for misalignment, etc..