I am writing this article with the aim of helping those who have a curiosity about certain clinical examinations performed by nurses in order to assess a person's respiratory system. And also to serve as a reminder for nurses and students in this field.
A lung auscultation exam is an exam that examines a person's lungs as well as a person's chest to assess the person's respiratory health. To do this, nurses use techniques such as inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation to find abnormal noises or not which will, in turn allow them to detect certain health problems or not. Like pneumonia, asthma, bronchitis etc.
During a pulmonary auscultation examination, I prepare or look for the patient's chart. I prepare the exam room, I disinfect the exam room and I disinfect my work instruments. Once everything is ready, I leave the room to pick up the patient. I introduce myself to him by giving my name and my role. I explain what I'm going to do for him. I ask him to come with me to the exam room. I ask him to sit down and ask him a few questions. As soon as I finish asking the questions, I ask him to take a seat on the exam bed in a seated position. I wash my hands. I inspect his face to see if there is any facial sagging. I look at his neck and feel it to see if there is any swelling or lump. I look at his back and his chest and feel them to see if the two sides are similar and also to see if there is a lump or not. I hit a few specific points by putting my index and middle fingers flat on a point. I hit them with my other index finger in order to hear specific noises such as, whistling, wheezing, etc.
And at the end of the examination I take my stethoscope, I disinfect it and I affix my stethoscope's pinna on 8 to 10 specific points in the back, starting from the top to go downwards while listening to the sounds of the lungs in the stethoscope tips, By asking the patient to inhale and breathe. I repeat the same exercise for the thorax, placing my stethoscope on 4 to 6 specific points.
To conclude, I ask the patient to hang up on a chair. I wash my hands and finish filling out my form. By adding all the information I found during the physical examination. Like sagging of the face, presence of bumps in the neck, back or chest. And also noises heard during percussion and auscultation. I put the form in his file and ask if he has any questions. I tell him the receptionist will call him for the test results. I take him back to reception for the necessary suites. I'm sending his results in the lab. I wash my hands. I continue my work.
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