Exam by body system

How to examine gait

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

MD / DOPANursing (NCLEX)
Practice it in VR with Blocky

Watching a patient walk takes a minute and shows problems in strength, balance, coordination and pain.

Step by step

  1. Safety

    Clear space, stay close. [1]

  2. Normal walk

    Speed, step length, arm swing, posture, turning. [1]

  3. Heel and toe walking

    Tests ankle strength. [1]

  4. Tandem walk

    Heel to toe in a line: tests balance. [1]

  5. Name the pattern

    Shuffling (Parkinson's), wide-based (cerebellum), high-stepping (foot drop), limping (pain), circumduction (stroke). [1]

  6. Record

    Describe and link to the rest of the exam. [1]

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

28 VMS cases train this skill: open the case library

Sources

  1. Stanford Medicine 25 (bedside exam)
  2. NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint
  3. 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.