| Characteristics | - Episodic, acute
- History of allergies
- Recent cold or flu
| - History of emphysema, bronchitis
- Heavy smoker
- Recent cold or respiratory infection
| - Chest pain: sudden, sharp
- Sudden onset; associated with coughing, air travel, strenuous exertion
| - History of myocardial infarction
- Rapid weight gain
- Cough
- Taking diuretics
- Increasing need for pillows for sleep
| - Sudden dyspnea
- Sharp chest pain
- Recent immobilization, surgery, or fracture of lower extremities
- History of: thrombophlebitis, use of birth control pills, sickle cell anemia
|
| Assessment Findings | - Wheezing
- Hyperresonance
- Chest may be silent with bronchospasms
| - Use of pursed-lip breathing
- Wheezing, crackles
- “Barrel” chest
- Uses accessory muscles to breathe
| - Tracheal deviation
- Asymmetrical chest motion
- Diminished breath sounds
| - Crackles
- Pink, frothy sputum
- Gallop (S3)
- Air hunger
| - Tachycardia
- Hypotension
- Tachypnea
- Pleural rub
|