Introduction: Wash your hands, introduce yourself to the patient and clarify their identity.

Explain the procedure

and obtain consent.
Olfactory nerve (CN I) is simply tested by offering something familiar for the patient to smell
and identify, for example orange/lemon peel, coffee, or vinegar.
Optic nerve (CN II) is tested in five ways:
Acuity Snellen Chart (assessed with or without vision aids)
Colour Ishihara Plates (see if patient is color blind)
Fields tested by asking the patient to look directly at you whilst you
wiggle one of your fingers in each of the four quadrants. Ask the
patient to identify which finger is moving.
Reflexes direct and concentric reflexes. Place one hand vertically along the
patients nose to block any light from entering the eye which is
not being tested. Shine a pen torch into one eye and check that
the pupils on both sides constrict.
Fundoscopy
1. Apply Mydriatic agents
2. Zoom in and find optic disk
o Headaches= swollen optic disk
o Papillaedema (Inc. ICP)= Cotton wool spots
Hydrocephalus
Intracranial HTN
HIV, Severe Anemia
Diabetes
Brain Tumor
o Chronic HTN= A/V Nicking (stiffened and thickened arteries cut blood
supply)
o Glaucoma= Optic cupping
o Rothes Spots= Infective endocarditis
3. Trace to find macula densa
o Diabetic Retinopathy= Macular Edema (blurred vision due to
leaking and blood
vessel proliferation)
Oculomotor nerve (CN III), Trochlear nerve (CN IV) and Abducent Nerve (CN VI) are
involved in movements of the eye.
Asking the patient to keep their head perfectly still directly in front of you, you
should draw two large joining Hs in front of them using your finger and ask them to
follow your finger with their eyes. It is important the patient does not move their
head.

Always ask if the patient experiences any double vision, and if so, when is it worse?

Trigeminal nerve (CN V) is involved in sensory supply to the face and motor supply to the
muscles of mastication.
SENSORY:
There are 3 sensory branches of the trigeminal nerve:
1. Ophthalmic
2. Maxillary
3. Mandibular.
Initially test the sensory branches by lightly touching the face with a piece of cotton
wool followed by a blunt pin in three places on each side of the face:
around the jawline
on the cheek
on the forehead
The corneal reflex should also be examined as the sensory supply to the cornea is from
this nerve. Do
this by lightly touching the cornea with the cotton wool. This should cause the patient
to shut their
eyelids.
MOTOR:
To test the motor supply:
1. Ask the patient to clench their teeth together, observing and feeling the
bulk of the
masseter and temporalis muscles.
2. Ask the patient to then open their mouth against resistance.
3. Finally perform the jaw jerk on the patient by placing your left index
finger on their
chin and striking it with a tendon hammer. This should cause slight
protrusion of the
jaw.
Facial nerve (CN VII) supplies motor branches to the muscles of facial expression.
This nerve is therefore tested by asking the patient to:
1. crease up their forehead (raise their eyebrows)
2. close their eyes and keep them closed against resistance
3. puff out their cheeks and reveal their teeth.
Vestibulocochlear nerve (CN VIII) provides innervation to the hearing apparatus of the ear and
can be used to
differentiate conductive and sensorineural hearing loss using the Rinne and Weber tests.
To carry out the Rinne test:
1. Place a sounding tuning fork on the patients mastoid process and then next
to their ear
2. Ask which is louder. A normal patient will find the second position louder.

a. Conductive Hearing Loss= If they are not able to hear the tuning fork
after the mastoid test, it means that their bone conduction is greater
than their air conduction. The sound should be heard best in the
affected ear.
b. Sensorineural Hearing Loss= the ability to sense the tuning fork by
both bone and air conduction is equally diminished but will indicate that
the sound has stopped much earlier
To carry out the Webers test:
2. Place the tuning fork base down in the center of the patients forehead
3. Ask if it is louder in either ear. Normally it should be heard equally in both
ears.
a. Sensorineural Hearing Loss= the Weber tuning fork sound is heard
louder in one ear (lateralization) than the other. The sound should be
heard best in the affected ear.
b. This clinical finding should be confirmed by repeating the procedure and
having the patient occlude one ear with a finger
Glossopharyngeal nerve (CN IX) provides sensory supply to the palate.
It can be tested with the gag reflex or by touching the arches of the pharynx.
Vagus nerve (CN X) provides motor supply to the pharynx.
Asking the patient to speak gives a good indication to the efficacy of the
muscles.
The uvula should be observed before and during the patient saying aah.
Check that it lies centrally and does not deviate on movement.
Accessory nerve (CN XI) gives motor supply to the sternocleidomastoid and trapezius muscles.
To test it, ask the patient to shrug their shoulders
Turn their head against resistance.
Hypoglossal nerve (CN XII) provides motor supply to the muscles of the tongue.
Observe the tongue for any signs of atrophy or fasciculations.
LMN issue= tongue deviation with fasciculations on Ipsilateral side
UMN issue= tongue deviation without fasciculations on Contralateral
side
Ask the patient to stick their tongue out (If the tongue deviates to either side, it
suggests a weakening of the muscles on that side)