In: Nursing
Assessment of breath sounds in an adult include mainly by
Auscultation: In this step the areas of the lungs that can be listened to using a stethoscope
These are the posterior, lateral, and anterior lung fields.
The posterior fields can be listened to from the back and include: the lower lobes (taking up three quarters of the posterior fields)
The anterior fields taking up the other quarter
The lateral fields under the axillae, the left axilla for the lingual, the right axilla for the middle right lobe.
The anterior fields can also be auscultated from the front.
Normal breath sounds include Tracheal, bronchial, vesicular and bronchovesicular.
One usual abnormal findings include: Wheezes: It is a continuous musical sound on expiration or inspiration. A wheeze is the result of narrowed airways. Common causes include asthma and emphysema.
Assessment of heart sounds:
A stethoscope is used to auscultate for heart sounds.
The diaphragm of the stethoscope is used to identify high-pitched sounds, while the bell is used to identify low-pitched sounds.
There are two normal heart sounds that should be elicited in auscultation: S1 (lub) and S2 (dub).
The third and fourth sounds may be heard in some healthy people, but can indicate impairment of the heart function. S1 and S2 are high-pitched and S3 and S4 are low-pitched sounds.
The practitioner should listen over each of the four main heart valve areas: the aortic, pulmonary, tricuspid and mitral valve areas.
One of the usual abnormal sounds is
Heart murmurs: Heart murmur caused by turbulent flow of blood across the heart valves, however, which may indicate heart disease.