Assess The Frequency And Depth Of Breathing Case Study

It’s the nurse's duty to advocate for her patient and to make sure that the patient understands and ask questions if necessary.

Both rapid, shallow breathing patterns and hypoventilation effect gas exchange. Arterial blood gases will be monitored and changes discussed with provider. Alteration in PaCO2 and PaO2 levels are signs of respiratory failure. Patient’s body position will be properly aligned for optimum respiratory excursion, this promotes lung expansion and improved air exchange. Patient will be suctioned as needed to clear secretions and maintain patent airways. The expected outcome is that the patient’s airway and gas exchange will be maintained as evidence by normal arterial blood gases (Herdman,

Check for normal breathing, taking no more than 10 seconds: Look for chest motion, listen for breath sounds, and

There are many other activities of daily living the nurse should assess during their initial assessment of the patient such as washing and dressing controlling temperature, mobilization, working and playing, expressing sexuality, sleeping and death and dying. These are also all very important to assess however some may be difficult to assess until you have witnessed the patient doing them (Hollnd 2005).

The nurse is the eyes and ears of the patient and relays information from the patient to the doctor, to the family that cannot be at the bedside, to the rest of the health care team. This outcome helped me determine the importance the nurse has in the hospital. The nurse is the first line of communication to the healthcare team and provides information about complications or progression of care. One assignment that stressed the importance of this outcome was the continuity of care paper that was written for NURS 331.

The right side of heart will increase in size as the muscle builds up and the heart rate will increase due to compensation for the left ventricle. With auscultation, the lungs will sound crackly from the liquid in the alveoli and interstitial space and when assessing respiration rate it is likely to be above thirty breaths per minute (Lewis et al., 2014). The patient may report that they are experiencing dyspnea, nocturia, fatigue, and a productive coughing. They may appear anxious and their skin may look pale (Lewis et al., 2014).

Lungs: Clear to auscultation bilaterally. No wheezes, rales, or rhonchi. Symmetric chest expansion. Breathing nonlabored. Diminished breath sounds in all lung fields. Resonant to percussion.

Progress inside the bronchi generally makes this affected individual experience less than breathing. They should find them selves breathing problems along with breathing problems, experiencing ache in stomach place or, using some circumstances, breathing problems along with paying blood. Others will present signs along with signs

Swelling and increased fluid in the lungs may also be a sign to look for. A steady tracking of the symptoms and health history of the person should be taken into consideration as well.

The first is inspiration where the body inhales and takes in oxygen to work the muscles of the body.

Monitoring of intake and output in order to identify and evaluating the negative balance that is more output than input as evidence of pulmonary crackles, distended bilateral jugular vein and decrease breath sound

Decreased or absent breath sounds occur with: an obstruction by a mucous plug or foreign body, emphysema, pleural effusion or pneumothorax.

more specific tests in a pulmonary function lab to see what exactly the problem is.

I really like what you wrote regarding measuring the symptoms of dyspnea the patient is actually experiencing rather then just the rate. Like you mentioned “you need to not measure dyspnea using the respiratory rate but rather by using scales that ask the patient directly.” I too agree with your statement since I seen so many health care providers jump into action to help someone with a low respiratory rate who was not in any distress and ended up causing unintentional harm to the patient because the health care provider didn’t fully assess the patient first. I’ve seen this happen several times throughout the years and I feel if they would first ask a patient how they feel, what is bothering and how they could help to make them feel better

This then helps to emphasise the importance of vital signs in contemporary nursing practice as ‘better monitoring of patients implies better care’ for this reason it is the nurses responsibility to ensure accuracy of the data, interpret the vital signs findings and to report any abnormalities (Lynn, 2008 ; Kyriacos et al, 2011 p.3225). This also builds the nurses core skill set and offers the earliest information of a patient at risk of deterioration, which helps to prevent deaths or further health complications (Boulanger, 2009).