Equipment Needed

• A Stethoscope
• A Peak Flow Meter

General Considerations

• The patient must be properly undressed and gowned for this examination.
• Ideally the patient should be sitting on the end of an exam table.
• The examination room must be quiet to perform adequate percussion and auscultation.
• Try to visualize the underlying lobes of the lungs as you examine the patient.
• Observe the patient for general signs of respiratory disease (finger clubbing, cyanosis, air hunger, etc.).

Inspection

• Observe the rate, rhythm, depth, and effort of breathing. Note whether the expiratory phase is prolonged.
• Listen for obvious abnormal sounds with breathing such as wheezes.
• Observe for retractions and use of accessory muscles (sternomastoids, abdominals).
• Observe the chest for asymmetry, deformity, or increased anterior-posterior (AP) diameter.
• Confirm that the trachea is near the midline?

Palpation

1. Indentify any areas of tenderness or deformity by palpating the ribs and sternum.
2. Assess expansion and symmetry of the chest by placing your hands on the patient's back, thumbs together at the midline, and ask them to breath deeply.
3. Check for tact

Percussion

Use the proper technique to elicit percussion "notes."

Posterior Chest

1. Percuss from side to side and top to bottom using the pattern shown in the illustration. Omit the areas covered by the scapulae.
2. Compare one side to the other looking for asymmetry.
3. Note the location and quality of the percussion sounds you hear.
4. Find the level of the diaphragmatic dullness on both sides.

   Diaphragmatic Excursion

5. Find the level of the diaphragmatic dullness on both sides.
6. Ask the patient to inspire deeply.
7. The level of dullness (diaphragmatic excursion) should go down 3-5cm symmetrically.
   

Anterior Chest

1. Percuss from side to side and top to bottom using the pattern shown in the illustration.
2. Compare one side to the other looking for asymmetry.
3. Note the location and quality of the percussion sounds you hear.

Interpretation

Auscultation

Use the diaphragm of the stethoscope to auscultate breath sounds.

Posterior Chest

1. Auscultate from side to side and top to bottom using the pattern shown in the illustration. Omit the areas covered by the scapulae.
2. Compare one side to the other looking for asymmetry.
3. Note the location and quality of the sounds you hear.

Anterior Chest

1. Auscultate from side to side and top to bottom using the pattern shown in the illustration.
2. Compare one side to the other looking for asymmetry.
3. Note the location and quality of the sounds you hear.

Interpretation

Breath sounds are produced by turbulent air flow. They are categorized by the size of the airways that transmit them to the chest wall (and your stethoscope). The general rule is, the larger the airway, the louder and higher pitched the sound. Vesicular breath sounds are low pitched and normally heard over most lung fields. Tracheal breath sounds are heard over the trachea. Bronchovesicular and bronchial sounds are heard in between. Inspiration is normally longer than expiration

Breath sounds are decreased when normal lung is displaced by air (emphysema or pneumothorax) or fluid (pleural effusion). Breath sounds shift from vesicular to bronchial when there is is fluid in the lung itself (pneumonia).

Voice Transmission Tests

These tests are only used in special situations. This part of the physical exam has largely been replaced by the chest x-ray. All these tests become abnormal when the lungs become filled with fluid (referred to as consolidation).

Tactile Fremitus

1. Ask the patient to say "ninety-nine" several times in a normal voice.
2. Palpate using the ball of your hand.
3. You should feel the vibrations transmitted through the airways to the lung.
4. Increased tactile fremitus suggests consolidation of the underlying lung tissues.

Bronchophony