Anterior
Chest Assessment
- Note the shape
and configuration of the chest wall
- Assess the quality
of respirations
- Normal breathing
is automatic and effortless, regular and even and produces no noise
- Look for any abnormalities
such as retraction or bulging of the interspaces in the rib cage, use
of accessory muscles, such as the abdominal or neck muscles
- Palpate the anterior
chest checking for symmetry by placing your hands on the anterolateral
wall with the thumbs along the costal margin and pointing toward the
xiphoid process
- With a deep breath
and smooth chest expansion your thumbs should move apart symmetrically
- Limitations in
thoracic expansion is easier to detect on the anterior chest because
greater range of motion exists with breathing anteriorly
- Auscultate the
lung fields over the anterior chest from the apices in the supraclavicular
areas down to the sixth rib
- Move from side
to side as you move downward and listen for one full breath in each
location
- Click on the 'Breath
Sounds' link to see where you would auscultate and what you would hear
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