Nursing Lecture: Pneumonia and Respiratory Care

Vocabulary flashcards covering pneumonia classifications, clinical manifestations, physical assessment findings, and precautions.

Room Air

Ambient air that has an oxygen concentration of $21\%$.

Aspiration Precautions

Clinical interventions including head of bed elevation, thickened liquids, limiting distractions, avoiding feeding drowsy patients, and checking for pocketing or cheeking to keep substances out of the airway.

Solid Consolidation

A dense appearance visible on a chest X-ray indicating lobar pneumonia with trapped exudate, cells, and fluid.

Streptococcus pneumoniae

The bacterial pathogen identified as the most common cause of community-acquired pneumonia.

Walking Pneumonia

A presentation of pneumonia mild enough that the individual can survive and manage without requiring hospitalization.

Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia

Pneumonia that develops when a patient exhibits symptoms after $48\,\text{hours}$ of hospital admission.

Oral Care

A nursing action, such as brushing teeth, that eliminates oral bacteria to help prevent aspiration pneumonia.

Dyspnea

Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.

Pleuritic Chest Pain

Chest discomfort caused by inflammation of the pleural lining rubbing and irritating during lung expansion and contraction.

Diminished Breath Sounds

An adventitious lung sound finding that indicates air is not moving around much within the respiratory tract.

Dull Percussion

A flat or muted assessment note produced when tapping over areas of the lung that contain fluid rather than air.

Sputum

Respiratory secretions originating from deep within the lungs, as differentiated from mouth saliva or spit.

Malaise

A clinical presentation marked by generalized weakness, fatigue, and feeling poorly.

CURB-65

An evidence-based scoring criteria referenced in ATI used to evaluate the severity and management of pneumonia manifestations.

Tessalon Pearls

A cough medication prescribed to suppress severe, non-stop coughing that causes patient harm rather than productive clearance.