Ms Sandy Rolfe (Respiratory Nurse Specialist, NHS Tayside) recently wrote for the British Journal of Nursing about ‘The importance of respiratory rate monitoring.’ This is the process undertaken by clinical staff of manually counting a patients’ breaths for one minute and recording that figure in the patients’ notes, along with their other vital signs. Rolfe highlights the reasons why respiratory monitoring is so important, how it can sometimes fall foul of inaccuracy and how it could be improved.
Key findings are summarised here.