Miss Xina
Forum Lieutenant
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Well, you are in a great position now that you recognize your weakness in patient assessment, you can improve it. A recent study evaluated paramedics abilities to recognize lung sounds and it turned out we suck at it. And those are paramedics! SO] do not feel bad, instead, practice. My old CCT nurse I worked with had me listen to everyones lungs. Every call, I listened to lungs and compared them with the physical exam most recently completed. This is how I got better, but I still do not even feel confident.
Here are some resources:
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Littmann/stethoscope/education/heart_sounds/
http://opeta.medinfo.ufl.edu/
http://www.stethoscopeskills.com/breathsounds.htm
Thank you! I will check those out tomorrow. I also fear I could be a little deaf. I couldn't hear to take BPs at all! Maybe I just need to practice finding the right spot, I don't know. Many people say they had a hard time when they started out so I'll keep trying!
I am a visual person though. I can handle trauma, anything I can see really. I think I just need to practice listening more.
I think being honest with yourself about your weaknesses is the only way to improve.
"A wise person knows they are not wise"