Alina Aref'yeva ENGL 301-Assignment 1:3 Introduction The purpose of Assignment 1:3- Definitions is to define a technical term to be directed towards a novice audience. As stated in the lesson instructions, the objectives of this assignment are to learn the role and importance of definitions in technical writing, understand how audience and purpose indicate the need for definition, differentiate between the levels of details in definition, and select the right level of detail according to the situation. To develop the definitions, the following three formats will be used: 1. A parenthetical definition 2. A sentence definition 3. An expanded definition

Term: Palpation Parenthetical: During a physical examination, the doctor used palpation (locating body landmarks with fingers) to find the sternum. Sentence: Palpation is a method used by physicians to feel body landmarks with fingers during an examination. The physician touches and feels an organ or body part to examine its location, size, texture and tenderness. Expanded: Palpation What is Palpation? Palpation is a method used by physicians to feel body landmarks with fingers during an examination. The physician touches and feels an organ or body part to examine its location, size, texture and tenderness (Vorvick L.,2015).

Who uses palpation? Medical professionals such as chiropractors massage therapists use palpation, and occupational therapists to assess texture of a patients’ tissue for swelling, locate landmarks on the body. How does palpation work? Two methods of palpation can be used to assess a patients’ injuries: manual and virtual palpation. As seen in figure 1, manual palpation uses the fingers of a physician to identify painful areas of the skin or position pieces of equipment. Virtual palpation is useful to quantify various parts of the body such as limb length, joint length, or distance between skeletal bones (Aubin A., Gagnon K., Morin C., 2013). Both methods can be used individually or collectively to form an accurate diagnosis.

Figure 1: Manual palpation of the torso Source: MedlinePlus, https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002284.htm

References Vorvick L. (2015) Palpation. MedlinePlus. Retrieved from https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002284.htm Laboratorio di Tecnologia Medica. (2007) Virtual palpation of skeletal landmarks with multimodal display interfaces. Pub Med. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17701825 Aubin A., Gagnon K., Morin C. (2013) The seven-step palpation method: A proposal to improve palpation skills. International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine. Retrieved from http://www.journalofosteopathicmedicine.com/article/S1746- 0689(13)00048-5/abstract