Observe the patient
Note position, speech, respiratory effort, skin signs, distress, and whether the patient can move air adequately.
How → Why → Practice
Inspect, palpate, compare, and recognize chest findings that cannot wait.
Practice a focused EMT chest assessment for respiratory and trauma patients, classify the findings, select the immediate priority, and document objectively.
0 of 3 lessons complete
Lesson 1
HOW: Perform a focused chest assessment
Expose only as needed, protect privacy and warmth, and treat immediate airway, breathing, and bleeding threats as they are found.
Inspect the chest
Expose sufficiently to identify wounds, bruising, deformity, paradoxical movement, retractions, and unequal rise.
Compare movement
View and gently feel both sides for equal expansion. Identify delayed, reduced, or paradoxical movement.
Palpate carefully
Check for tenderness, instability, crepitus, subcutaneous emphysema, and hidden bleeding without repeatedly pressing an injury.
Assess breath sounds
Compare matching locations on both sides when trained and equipped. Relate sounds to effort, chest rise, SpO₂, and mental status.
Treat and reassess
Manage open wounds, support ventilation when inadequate, monitor closely, and repeat the chest assessment after interventions or change.
Do not delay care. Severe respiratory distress, inadequate ventilation, open chest wounds, major bleeding, or rapidly worsening findings require immediate treatment and transport.
Lesson 2
WHY: Understand what chest findings may mean
No single sign provides the diagnosis. Combine chest findings with mechanism, history, vitals, oxygenation, perfusion, and trends.
Unequal chest rise
May reflect splinting, pneumothorax, hemothorax, airway obstruction, mainstem ventilation, or another unilateral problem.
Paradoxical movement
A segment moving opposite the rest of the chest suggests major chest-wall instability and possible underlying lung injury.
Open chest wound
Air may move through the chest wall and interfere with normal ventilation. Follow local protocol for appropriate sealing and frequent reassessment.
Crepitus or instability
Can indicate rib or sternum injury. Avoid repeated palpation and watch for worsening ventilation and shock.
Absent or reduced sounds
May be caused by poor air movement, obstruction, pneumothorax, hemothorax, anatomy, or technique. Recheck and compare sides.
Normal-looking chest
A patient can still have serious respiratory or internal injury. Continue the full assessment and trend the patient over time.
Quick knowledge check
Which documentation is most objective?
Full scenario mode: complete this assessment for the active patient. Teaching sections and patient changes are locked until you leave the scenario.
Lesson 3
PRACTICE: Assess, interpret, act, and document
Run the assessment, classify the finding, identify the priority, choose the best EMT action, and write a PCR-style note.
Random patient
Assessment finding
0/4score
Coaching feedback
Example PCR documentation
Training content only. Follow your approved education, medical direction, and local protocols.