Peripheral sensory loss is a quiet but dangerous problem in home health: a patient who cannot feel a pebble, a hot surface, or a developing pressure point will not protect the area, and the first sign is often an established wound or a burn. Documentation that records “no complaints of numbness” without testing does not prove a nurse was required; an assessment that tests protective sensation, recognizes its loss, and teaches the patient to compensate does — and prevents amputation and injury.
The purpose of this module is to give the clinician the skilled framework — standardized sensory testing including the 10-gram monofilament foot screen, proprioception and temperature assessment, and the link between sensory loss and injury and fall risk — and the chartable language that demonstrates observation and assessment and skilled teaching and training. Sudden or central sensory loss is treated as a neurologic emergency and routed to Neurological.
