Exam by body system

How to examine the hand and wrist

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

MD / DOPA
Practice it in VR with Blocky

The hand has many small structures. Look, feel, move and then test the three nerves.

Step by step

  1. Look

    Both hands palms up and down: swelling, deformity, wasting, scars, nails. [1]

  2. Feel

    Temperature, joint tenderness, the snuffbox (scaphoid fracture). [1]

  3. Move

    Make a fist, spread fingers, wrist up and down. [1]

  4. Function

    Grip, pinch, pick up a coin, undo a button. [1]

  5. Nerves

    Median (thumb to little finger, sensation of index), ulnar (spread fingers, little finger sensation), radial (wrist extension, back of thumb). [1]

  6. Carpal tunnel tests

    Phalen and Tinel signs. [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

26 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.