A-E Respiratory Assessment
A-E Respiratory Assessment[edit | edit source]
The A-E assessment; Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Exposure (ABCDE) approach is a systematic approach to the immediate assessment and treatment of critically ill or injured patients[1], it has become widely adopted as a way of documenting the assessment of respiratory patients.
Airway[edit | edit source]
Is the airway patent? is it their own?
Occluded/Obstructed: indicated by stridor, hoarse voice, orthopnoea, drooling, dysphagia
Are they self ventilating?
Breathing[edit | edit source]
What is their respiratory rate?
Work of breathing.
What are the saturation levels? Are they on any oxygen? How is it delivered.
Have they had ABGs?
What did their chest Xray show?
Chest expansion: is it even
Auscultation: Are there breath sounds throughout? Are there any added sounds
Palpation: What can you feel? secretions? tactile fremitus
What is their cough like? Strong or weak? Dry or Wet? productive or unproductive.
Are they able to expectorate their secretions?
Circulation[edit | edit source]
Heart Rate
Blood Pressure
Skin colour
Sweating
Urine Output
Blood Sugar levels (BMs)
Disability[edit | edit source]
Level of consciousness; Alert, Voice, Pain, Unresponsive
Exposure[edit | edit source]
Injuries
Attachments: Catheter, Arterial line, NG tubes,
- ↑ Thim T, Krarup NH, Grove EL, Rohde CV, Løfgren B. Initial assessment and treatment with the Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Exposure (ABCDE) approach. Int J Gen Med. 2012;5:117-121. doi:10.2147/IJGM.S28478
