What is the intervention for an ARDS patient with diminished breath sounds?

What is the intervention for an ARDS patient with diminished breath sounds?

• A. Administer diuretics
• B. Prone positioning
• C. Sit them up to promote lung expansion
• D. Encourage shallow breathing

Answer: (C)

When breath sounds are diminished in ARDS, air entry to parts of the lung is reduced, often from atelectasis. The goal is to recruit collapsed alveoli and improve ventilation. Sitting the patient up helps by allowing the diaphragm to move more freely and reducing abdominal pressure on the lungs, which promotes expansion of dependent lung regions. This upright position can improve lung recruitment and air entry, which you’d hear as better breath sounds and improved oxygenation. Diuretics target fluid balance, which is part of ARDS care, but they don’t directly address the immediate need to recruit collapsed lung tissue and improve ventilation. Encouraging shallow breathing would worsen atelectasis and gas exchange, so it’s not appropriate. Prone positioning can improve oxygenation in severe ARDS by better recruiting dorsal lung regions, but it’s more complex and not the simplest first-step for diminished breath sounds.

When breath sounds are diminished in ARDS, air entry to parts of the lung is reduced, often from atelectasis. The goal is to recruit collapsed alveoli and improve ventilation. Sitting the patient up helps by allowing the diaphragm to move more freely and reducing abdominal pressure on the lungs, which promotes expansion of dependent lung regions. This upright position can improve lung recruitment and air entry, which you’d hear as better breath sounds and improved oxygenation.

Diuretics target fluid balance, which is part of ARDS care, but they don’t directly address the immediate need to recruit collapsed lung tissue and improve ventilation. Encouraging shallow breathing would worsen atelectasis and gas exchange, so it’s not appropriate. Prone positioning can improve oxygenation in severe ARDS by better recruiting dorsal lung regions, but it’s more complex and not the simplest first-step for diminished breath sounds.