Nursing Assessment of Breathing: Importance, Techniques, and COPD Management

Running head: NURSING ASSESSMENT OF BREATHING
NURSING ASSESSMENT OF BREATHING
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1NURSING ASSESSMENT OF BREATHING
Part 1
The rate and the characteristics of respirations help to provide insight to the general health status
of the person. Breathlessness can be a very disturbing symptom for many people and assessment
of the breathing patterns help to identify the problem early and intervene with them.
People with lung diseases require their respiratory assessment to be more frequent than
the others. People suffering from chest infections, long term lung problems or people who smoke
tobacco daily will be benefitted if they have their respirations assessed regularly. There are
certain factors that impact the respiratory rate. They are the age, gender, weight, size, exercises
pain, anxiety, smoking habits and the effects of some medicines. The normal respiratory rate of a
man is about 14 to 18 breaths a minute and for a woman it is about 14 to 18 breaths per minute,
hence it is important to assess the respiration in order to measure any changes (Usmani & Barnes
2012, p.146-156). Some of the probable findings of a respiratory assessment can be deep and
swallowed breathing that may indicate anxiety. Shallow breathing that can be due to the effect of
some medicines (Thim et al. 2012,p. 117). Minimal chest movements are sometimes found in
asthma as a differential diagnosis. Person facing respiratory trouble may indicate towards the
onset of a lung or heart problems. Pain during breathing may indicate towards a chest infection
or cracked rib, chest infection or tumor in the lung (Usmani & Barnes 2012, p.146-156).
Breathing through mouth may indicate towards a blocked nose. Irregular breathing can be
common in older persons, but may also direct towards heart or brain problems.

2NURSING ASSESSMENT OF BREATHING
While measuring the respirations, the depth, rate, pattern of respiration should be recorded. The
depth volume known as the tidal volume should be about 500ml. The breathing rate should've
equal with pause between each breath.
The pulmonary examination includes inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation.
Inspection- Inspection is normally done with eyes and it begins with the initial greeting with the
patient. A nurse should notice the patient's facial expression in relation to inspiration and
expiration (Thim et al. 2012, p. 117).
Palpation- It is done by placing the palm of each hand on the superior portion of the
hemithoraces and the hand is then moved inferiorly below the twelfth ribs.
Percussion- Percussion is done for determining the sound if the area under the percussed finger
is fluid filled, solid filled and air filled (Thim et al. 2012, p. 117).
Percussion notes

3NURSING ASSESSMENT OF BREATHING
Source: (Elsherif & Noble 2011,p.29-33)
A respiratory assessment includes the following:-
Speech:
Normal- No difficulties in speech
Respiratory distress- short sentences, short phrases or may be few words.
Cough:
Productive cough indicates COPD, bronchiectasis or COPD and CF if the patient is younger and
dry cough relates to asthma if younger and ILD if older (Csikesz & Gartman 2014).
Inspection of the hands
It is also necessary to inspect the hands. Tar staining on the fingers may indicate towards chain
smoking, which increases the chance of COPD and lung cancer. Tenderness and swelling of the
joints may indicate towards rheumatological diseases (Thim et al. 2012, p. 117).
Respiratory noises:
Normal- no noises or quite
Respiratory distress: Noises on breathing such as crackles or gasps may indicate some clinical
conditions. For example wheezing is the characteristic symptom of asthma (Kazaks et al. 2012,
p.83-92).
Chest auscultation:
Normal- no wheezes or crackles