What questions should you ask when you take a history from a patient with a respiratory problem?

The stats speak for themselves. Respiratory distress is what sends 10% of children to emergency departments. Additionally, one in seven seniors has a lung disease. Between 1980-2014, more than 4.6 million American adults died from chronic respiratory diseases. 

Performing comprehensive respiratory assessments can detect problems before they become emergencies. Additionally, in hypoxic patients or those with airway obstructions, a respiratory assessment provides important information about the patient’s status and clues about next treatment steps.

Let’s look at the basics of performing an effective and comprehensive respiratory assessment.

Patient History

A respiratory assessment must begin with a detailed patient history. Ask about previous respiratory illnesses, chronic respiratory conditions, and cardiovascular health. If the patient has an infection or is in respiratory distress, get as many details as possible about the event preceding the emergency. Ask about the patient’s vaccine history, as well.

This is also an ideal chance to determine whether the patient has special needs that might affect the assessment. Preterm infants, for example, have weaker respiratory muscles than children and adults, while infants and young children have a more rapid rate of respiration. Ensure you know what’s normal for the patient population you serve, as well as the specific patient you are treating.

Observe the patient for important respiratory clues:

• Check the rate of respiration.
• Look for abnormalities in the shape of the patient’s chest.
• Ask about shortness of breath and watch for signs of labored breathing.
• Check the patient’s pulse and blood pressure.
• Assess oxygen saturation. If it is below 90 percent, the patient likely needs oxygen.

In infants and newborns:

• Check for flaring nostrils, which could indicate breathing problems.
• Look for retractions or bulging of the muscles between the ribs, which suggest difficulty getting enough air.

Auscultation

Hearing the sounds of the patient breathing provides vital information about the patient’s overall health. Auscultate the chest, back, and sides with a focus on signs of loud or labored breathing. Signs of abnormal breathing include:

• Crackling, popping, or bubbling sounds, which may indicate pneumonia or pulmonary edema.
• Wheezing, which can signal pulmonary disease, asthma, allergies, or an infection.
• Pleural friction. This grating sound occurs when the pleural surfaces rub together and suggests pneumonia.

A hands-on exam is critical for detecting abnormalities that simple observation and auscultation cannot. To examine the patient:

1. Palpate the back at the tenth rib, positioning a thumb on each rib as the patient breathes deeply. Patients with decreased lung expansion may have a tumor or pneumonia on one side. Poor lung expansion could also indicate pneumothorax.
2. Evaluate the thorax by positioning the palms over the thorax and feeling for bulging, tenderness, and retractions while breathing. Feel the ribs for lumps, scars, and swelling.

3. Have the patient fold their arms across their chest. Then position both palms on either side of the back, touching the patient’s back with your fingers while the patient says a sentence.

4. You should feel buzzing as the patient speaks. If there is fluid in the lungs or a lower respiratory obstruction, the vibrating will be intense because of the ability of fluid to more effectively transmit sound.
   

Percussion

Percussion can provide additional information about respiratory status. Use the middle or index finger of your dominant hand to tap the areas between each rib through the chest or back. Avoid touching the skin with your other fingers, since this can cause vibrations that compromise the assessment.

Sounds to monitor for include:

• A short and high-pitched or very dull sound over muscle or bone. This suggests respiratory consolidation.
• A loud, long, low-pitched and hollow sound over the lungs or stomach that may suggest bronchitis.
• A dull, thudding sound over large organs such as the liver. This may also be a sign of consolidation.
• A loud, low-pitched sound over the stomach that can indicate pneumothorax or emphysema.
• A high-pitched drum sound is heard when the chest is expanded. This suggests excess air, often due to a collapsed lung.

A respiratory assessment provides important details about treatment, and the right treatment may include clearing the airway of obstructions. For help selecting the right equipment for your agency, download our free guide, The Ultimate Guide to Purchasing a Portable Emergency Suction Device.

Editor's Note: This blog was originally published in December 2018. It has been re-published with additional up to date content.

Patients in severe respiratory distress or respiratory compromise are often unable to speak more than one or two words at a time, and attempting to do so makes their distress even worse. Use these eight yes-no questions to learn from the patient about their medical history and present illness. These questions are the start of a conversation to guide treatment decisions. With a calm voice, explain to the patient that you need them to nod or shake their head — yes or no — to these questions:

1. Has this happened before?

Most patients in severe respiratory distress have a chronic condition that exacerbates; meaning it can get worse. If the answer to this question is yes, look at the patient, scan the room, and start naming out loud the most likely culprits. For a younger patient seated next to a nebulizer, start by asking if this is an asthma attack. For an older patient seated next to an ashtray, ask if this is from their COPD. With a patient who woke up in the middle of the night next to a box of blood pressure medications, ask if their current respiratory compromise is from heart failure.

If the answer is no to those likely culprits, consider the acute causes that fit the patient’s age and appearance. These include flash pulmonary edema from an acute myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, pneumothorax or anaphylaxis.

2. Have you ever been this bad before?

Follow by asking if they have ever been intubated for breathing difficulty before, and if they felt this bad when that happened. This helps you anticipate the need to assist their ventilation with a bag-valve-mask device or place an advanced airway, and will help the ED staff determine the course of treatment.

3. Ask if a specific treatment worked for this before

Many patients with asthma, COPD and congestive heart failure put off calling 911 until after home treatments have failed. An asthmatic who has not gotten better after using albuterol is likely to need more than just albuterol from you. Start naming your available treatment options and ask they if they worked in the past. Use terms they can understand, such as a "pressure mask" for CPAP, "shot of epinephrine," or "magnesium through an IV."   

4. Did your breathing difficulty start right before you called 911?

Use this question to determine the onset of symptoms. If the patient shakes their head "no," follow up with times when their respiratory distress began. Did it start 30 minutes before calling? An hour? Three hours? All night? This, along with what the patient has done for home treatment before you arrived, also helps predict the need for assisted ventilation with a bag valve mask.

5. Did this episode come on suddenly?

This question helps narrow down the cause if it is not known yet. If the answer is yes, clarify by asking if the patient felt completely normal before having trouble breathing. A sudden onset is more evidence of an acute cause — asthma, MI, anaphylaxis, pulmonary embolism, or pneumothorax. A gradual progression of symptoms suggests a COPD exacerbation or pneumonia.

6. Do you have pain anywhere? If yes, point where

If the patient points to their chest, follow up with more yes-no questions to identify a cardiac component. Does it feel like a pressure? Is it sharp? Does it get worse when you breathe? Does it move anywhere? Sharp pain that gets worse with inspiration suggests musculoskeletal chest pain, and pressure that does not change with inspiration and radiates suggests a cardiac cause. Chest and leg pain with difficulty breathing may be from a pulmonary embolism. For any patient with chest pain, follow up on these questions with a 12-lead ECG after managing their airway.

7. Are you getting tired?

Patients in respiratory distress can decompensate to respiratory failure from the ongoing effort needed to breathe, even if they are able to inhale enough oxygen to maintain an adequate pulse-ox reading. A patient who nods "yes" to this question is not getting better, and is likely to need assisted ventilation with a bag valve mask soon. These patients often close their eyes, have difficulty holding a nebulizer to their mouth, or difficulty holding their head up. Prepare a BVM and airway equipment, and work on a plan with team members.

If a patient shakes their head "no," ask if they feel like they are getting better. If the answer is yes, this indicates that your current treatment is working, and reporting this to the emergency department may prevent them from getting intubated. If the patient is improving try asking open-ended questions to see if they can tolerate speaking in longer phrases, and for them to describe their symptoms.

8. Are there any medications you can’t take?

Ask this question to identify medication allergies. If the patient answers yes but cannot communicate what it is, start by asking about antibiotics. They are among the most common medications people are allergic to, and many patients with difficulty breathing receive antibiotics in the hospital. Attempt to identify which medication and report it to the hospital.

These questions provide a starting point for the assessment of respiratory compromise. Combine the questions with lung sound auscultation, pulse oximetry and waveform capnography to guide treatment. A capnography waveform with a slurred "shark fin" upstroke is diagnostic of bronchospasm, which provides immediate feedback on when albuterol should be administered to a patient who is unable to speak in phrases or sentences.

For patients in severe respiratory distress, make every question count. Ask yes-no questions that yield the most information, and ask the questions in ways that require the least amount of effort from patients in respiratory compromise.

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This article, originally published on Feb. 9, 2016, has been updated.