Exam by body system

How to examine for a groin hernia

Other platforms explain it with text and video. In VMS you practice it on the patient.

MD / DOPA
Practice it in VR with Blocky

Examine a hernia with the patient standing: it shows best then.

Step by step

  1. Consent and chaperone

    Explain and offer a chaperone. [1]

  2. Look standing

    Swelling in the groin, scrotum or labia. [2]

  3. Cough

    Look and feel for an impulse when the patient coughs. [2]

  4. Inguinal or femoral

    Above and medial to the pubic tubercle (inguinal), below and lateral (femoral, higher risk). [3]

  5. Reducible?

    Does it go back when lying? [3]

  6. Warning signs

    Tender, hard, red, cannot be pushed back, vomiting: strangulation, urgent surgery. [3]

Common errors

Practice it in VMS

In VMS you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.

VMS cases that train this skill

Sources

  1. AAMC Core Entrustable Professional Activities (Core EPAs)
  2. Stanford Medicine 25 (bedside exam)
  3. NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint
  4. Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College) (CC BY 4.0)

Steps adapted from Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Facts and steps also follow NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint; Stanford Medicine 25 (bedside exam). VMS is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.