Abstract
Overview: The nurse often serves as the eyes and ears of the patient’s healthcare team, as he or she has the most frequent direct and prolonged patient contact. This frequent contact is a primary reason it is important for a nurse to be highly adept at patient assessment. A detailed assessment is part of every initial contact and is often referred to as the intake or admission assessment.
Objectives: This program demonstrates and describes a step-by-step approach to assessing the respiratory system. After completing this course, the learner should be able to: Describe the anatomy and physiology of the respiratory system. Explain the use of subjective information in an assessment of the respiratory system. Identify objective signs of health status in an assessment of the respiratory system. Describe the basic process of lung auscultation. Differentiate between normal and adventitious breath sounds. Describe abnormalities and anomalies of the respiratory system.