Oregon Certified Nursing Assistant State Practice Exam

Which of the following senses is not used in making observations?

1. Sight.

2. Touch.

3. Smell.

4. Taste.

The correct answer is: Taste.

In the context of nursing and making observations about a patient's condition, the sense of taste is typically not employed. Observations are crucial in monitoring a patient's health, which relies heavily on visual cues (sight), physical assessments (touch), and detecting unusual odors (smell) to gather information about their condition. Sight is used to assess a patient's color, mobility, and overall appearance. Touch is essential for feeling the temperature of the skin, checking for pulses, or detecting swelling. Smell can provide information about infections or other conditions through unusual body odors. Taste, however, is not a practical or safe sense to use for this purpose. It is not conducive to assessing patient health and is not part of the standard observational methods employed by certified nursing assistants. Hence, the sense of taste is excluded from the observation process in a healthcare setting.