Neurological nursing skills

Neurological nursing skills includes myriad tests and assessments which are used to evaluate a person’s neurological function. A number of these tests and assessments will be mentioned in this unit: however, the focus of the unit is primarily on two specific and highly important clinical skills; they are preforming neurological observations, including the Glasgow Coma Scale (neurological test) and the neurovascular assessment (neurological and circulation test), both of which will be discussed in sections 13.2 and 13.3 respectively. Before discussing these specific clinical skills, it is important to understand the components of the nervous system and what their various functions are. For an in-depth understanding of the neurological system you will need to refer to an appropriate education resource, such as an anatomy and physiology textbook, but below is a brief overview of the nervous system to help get started