How would you describe percussion of the lungs?
Percussion. Percussion is an assessment technique which produces sounds by the examiner tapping on the patient’s chest wall. Just as lightly tapping on a container with your hands produces various sounds, so tapping on the chest wall produces sounds based on the amount of air in the lungs.
How do you document a normal respiratory assessment?
Documentation of a basic, normal respiratory exam should look something along the lines of the following: The chest wall is symmetric, without deformity, and is atraumatic in appearance. No tenderness is appreciated upon palpation of the chest wall. The patient does not exhibit signs of respiratory distress.
How do you describe respiratory assessment?
A thorough respiratory assessment consists of inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation in conjunction with a comprehensive health history. Use a systematic approach and compare findings between left and right so the patient serves as his own control.
How do nurses describe breath sounds?
Expected Breath Sounds Bronchial breath sounds are heard over the trachea and larynx and are high-pitched and loud. Bronchovesicular sounds are medium-pitched and heard over the major bronchi. Vesicular breath sounds are heard over the lung surfaces, are lower-pitched, and often described as soft, rustling sounds.
When Percussing the lungs What is the normal sound?
Percussion produces sounds on a spectrum from flat to dull depending on the density of the underlying tissue. Areas of well-aerated lung will be resonant, or tympanic, to percussion. Dullness to percussion indicates denser tissue, such as zones of effusion or consolidation.
How do you document respiratory rate and depth?
When measuring and recording respirations the rate, depth and pattern of breathing should be recorded. The depth (volume) of the breath is known as the tidal volume, this should be around 500ml (Blows, 2001). The rate should be regular with equal pause between each breath.
How do you describe wet lung sounds?
Crackles (Rales) Crackles are also known as alveolar rales and are the sounds heard in a lung field that has fluid in the small airways. The sound crackles create are fine, short, high-pitched, intermittently crackling sounds. The cause of crackles can be from air passing through fluid, pus or mucus.
What is inspection palpation percussion auscultation?
WHEN YOU PERFORM a physical assessment, you’ll use four techniques: inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation. Use them in sequence—unless you’re performing an abdominal assessment. Palpation and percussion can alter bowel sounds, so you’d inspect, auscultate, percuss, then palpate an abdomen.
Which is an abnormal respiratory sound heard on auscultation?
However, abnormal breath sounds may include: rhonchi (a low-pitched breath sound) crackles (a high-pitched breath sound) wheezing (a high-pitched whistling sound caused by narrowing of the bronchial tubes)
What is percussion and auscultation?
Percussion is a method of tapping on a surface to determine the underlying structures, and is used in clinical examinations to assess the condition of the thorax or abdomen. It is one of the four methods of clinical examination, together with inspection, palpation, auscultation, and inquiry.