Initial Assessment of Abnormal Breathing, by Brienne Leary

DESCRIPTION
Quick Concepts are short videos that describe a key physiological or theoretical concept, or demonstrate a brief procedure.
In this video, Brienne Leary discusses how to assess a patient's breath sounds without a stethoscope.

Initial publication: March 30, 2018.

   

  The first thing we're going to do is listen without a stethoscope.

There are a few things you'll be able to listen to.

First is stridor.

That's known as a high pitched noise that is heard as the patient takes their breath in.

[STRIDOR NOISES] If you hear stridor, it often indicates that the patient has an obstruction somewhere in their upper airway.

This could be a foreign body, or it could be swelling on their internal airway.

Then you want to listen for any upper airway congestion.

[NASAL CONGESTION NOISES] Do you hear noises around their nose?

Their throat?
Are they coughing a lot?
All of these things could indicate that they have stuffiness or secretions collecting in their upper airway.
Next, does the child have a cough?
The description of the cough is also important.
Is it effective?
Are they actually coughing up sputum?
[PRODUCTIVE COUGH NOISES] Or is it dry and hacking?
[DRY AND HACKING COUGH NOISES] Does the patient tell you that something makes the cough worse, maybe when they lay down or sit up?
Is it barking and hoarse sounding?
[COUGH WITH CROUP NOISES] If the cough is producing sputum, it may be important to collect that for specimen.
All of these characteristics can help the provider to diagnose the patient.