Inspection begins before you touch anything and often before you speak — and it separates the findings that took years to develop from the ones that started this morning. Sort what you see, reshape a chest until it becomes a barrel, name a breathing pattern from its trace, then put trachea, expansion and fremitus together into a working diagnosis and an action.
Stand back and watch a full minute of breathing. What do you see?
Select every finding present. The panel sorts them into expected, chronic and acute distress — and that sorting is the whole point, because a chronic finding never explains a new symptom.
Also present
Name this breathing pattern
The trace runs left to right; upward is inspiration. Read rate, depth and regularity, then choose.
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Correct
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Answered
Put your hands on the chest and report three things
Compare side to side, never top to bottom. Every step of the chest exam is a symmetry test.
Also palpated
Look before you touchSelect what you see across the room, then work down through the exam.