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EPISODE NOTES
Episode Title: Respiratory System Made Simple: What Every Nurse Must Know
Created by: Brooke Wallace – ICU Nurse, Organ Transplant Coordinator, Clinical Instructor, and Author
Website: ThinkLikeANurse.org
🔹 What You’ll Learn
Core respiratory anatomy nurses need to know cold
Why the right main bronchus is the “danger zone”
The 4 key steps of respiration: ventilation, external respiration, transport, internal respiration
Boil’s Law and how pressure changes drive breathing
The role of surfactant and what happens in ARDS
The oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve simplified — Right Release vs. Left Lock
Age-related respiratory changes and clinical implications
How to identify wheezes, rhonchi, and crackles — and the right nursing response
Oxygen therapy, suctioning, positioning, and prevention strategies for better outcomes
🩸 Key Clinical Takeaways
Right main bronchus = wider, shorter, straighter → aspiration risk.
Boil’s Law: volume ↑ → pressure ↓ → air flows in.
Negative intrapleural pressure keeps lungs inflated — pneumothorax breaks it.
Right Release, Left Lock: low pH (acidosis) helps oxygen release; high pH (alkalosis) makes it harder.
Wheezes = bronchodilators, Rhonchi = suction or cough, Crackles = fluid or alveoli collapse.
Older adults: less reserve → rapid decompensation under stress.
💡 Nursing Pearls
Assess before you touch: rate, rhythm, effort, color.
Cyanosis = late sign of hypoxia.
Always correlate SpO₂ with patient appearance and ABG values.
Use positioning as your first non-pharmacologic intervention.
Patient education — smoking cessation, vaccines, proper inhaler use — prevents readmissions.
🧠 NCLEX-Style Question
A post-operative patient is vomiting and at risk for aspiration. Which nursing action best protects the airway?
A) Place in supine position
B) Trendelenburg position
C) Left side-lying position
D) Encourage deep breathing
✅ Answer: C – The left side-lying position helps prevent aspiration into the right lung, which is wider and straighter.
🕒 Timestamps
00:00 Intro
02:10 Blueprint of the respiratory system
08:15 Boil’s Law and ventilation
14:30 The 4 steps of respiration
20:00 Oxyhemoglobin curve
26:00 Aging and respiratory reserve
32:00 Lung sound interpretation
40:00 Nursing interventions and education
48:00 NCLEX Challenge
Need to reach out? Send an email to Brooke at [email protected]
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