EVOLVE Assessing Respiration: Rhythm, Rate, and Effort
Which action can the nurse take to keep a patient from consciously controlling his or her breathing during an assessment?
Assess respiration after measuring the pulse.
During the assessment of a patient's respiratory rate, when the second hand reaches the 15-second mark, the respiratory count is 8. What should the nurse do at this time?
Continue to count the patient's breaths for a full 60 seconds.
The nurse plans to assess a patient's respiratory rate; however, the patient has just returned from ambulating to the bathroom. What should the nurse do to minimize the effect of exercise on the patient's respiratory rate?
Encourage the patient to rest for 10 minutes before assessing respiration.
When measuring a patient's respiratory rate, the nurse will count the number of completed respiratory cycles per minute. What is the definition of a respiratory cycle?
The number of inspirations and expirations per minute.
On the last assessment of a patient's respiration, her respiratory rate was 10 breaths per minute. What should the nurse do when conducting the next assessment of this patient's respiratory rate?
The nurse should count the patient's breaths for a full 60 seconds, because her respiratory rate is less than 12 breaths per minute.