Final answer:
In case of a suspicious respiratory condition, firstly conduct a thorough assessment followed by a physical examination. Make your diagnosis based on data gathered from these steps. Only then, start the treatment.
Step-by-step explanation:
If a patient's initial presentation makes you suspicious about a particular respiratory condition, you should first confirm your suspicions with a thorough assessment. This could involve a variety of actions such as listening to the patient's breathing with a stethoscope, ordering a chest radiography, collecting blood, urine, and sputum samples for further analysis. This is what was seen in John's case. He presented with symptoms suggestive of influenza and the physician collected various samples for further analysis.
Next, a focused physical examination is necessary to look for physical signs that might align with your suspicions about the patient's condition. In Marsha's case, her doctor heard crepitation (a crackling sound) in her lungs after which further investigations were conducted.
After your assessments and examinations, make your field impression based on the presentation. In Barbara's case, despite her flu-like symptoms, her Physician's Assistant (PA) considered a range of diseases including influenza, bronchitis, pneumonia, or tuberculosis. This is crucial as treatment would be influenced by the precise condition the patient suffers from.
Finally, you can begin immediate treatment based on your suspicion, but only after confirming the condition. This was observed in John's treatment after his extensive consolidation of the right lung was revealed through chest radiograph, along with the presence of a gram-negative rod in his sputum cultures.
Learn more about Diagnosing Respiratory Disorders