RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Can undergraduate paramedic students accurately identify lung sounds?
JF Emergency Medicine Journal
JO Emerg Med J
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and the British Association for Accident & Emergency Medicine
SP 580
OP 582
DO 10.1136/emj.2008.058552
VO 26
IS 8
A1 Williams, B
A1 Boyle, M
A1 O’Meara, P
YR 2009
UL http://emj.bmj.com/content/26/8/580.abstract
AB Introduction: The accurate identification of lung sounds during chest auscultation is a skill commonly used by healthcare clinicians, including paramedics, when assessing a patient’s respiratory status. It is a necessary skill as it enables confirmation of a patient’s respiratory condition and guides the paramedic to a provisional diagnosis and the implementation of appropriate management. The object of this study was to identify if undergraduate paramedic students from two Australian universities were able to interpret a variety of lung sounds accurately.Methods: A prospective single-blinded observational study requiring 96 undergraduate paramedic students from two Australian universities to estimate the lung sounds of six audio files.Results: The findings demonstrated variable accuracy in lung sound interpretation of the six audio files. The lung sound that contained a wheeze was most accurately interpreted, whereas coarse crackles were the least accurately interpreted. Monash University undergraduate paramedic students displayed similar lung sound interpretations to Charles Sturt University undergraduate paramedic students.Conclusion: In this study undergraduate paramedic students from two Australian universities were found to be inaccurate at interpreting a variety of common lung sounds. The study has highlighted that a greater emphasis needs to be given to lung sound interpretation in undergraduate paramedic education programmes.