Respiration

Breathing is a continuous process in which each breath regularly follows the last with no notable interruptions. Breathing is a spontaneous, automatic process, which occurs without conscious thought, visible effort, marked sounds or pain.

You will assess breathing by watching the patient chest rise and fall, feeling for air through the mouth and nose during exhalation and listening to the breath sound with a stethoscope over each lung.

Chest rise and breath sound should be equal on both sides of the chest. When assessing the respiration, you must determine the rate, quality (character) and depth of the patients breathing.