How can one listen to breathing during a patient assessment?

Listening to a patient's breathing during an assessment is best accomplished with a stethoscope. This instrument allows healthcare providers to accurately assess lung sounds, detecting various respiratory conditions by listening to the airflow through the airways and the lung fields.

A stethoscope amplifies the sounds of the heart and lungs, allowing the assessor to identify normal and abnormal respiratory sounds such as wheezes, crackles, or absence of breath sounds. This auditory evaluation is crucial in diagnosing conditions such as pneumonia, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Using a sphygmomanometer is intended for measuring blood pressure, while an otoscope is designed for examining the ears, and a reflex hammer is used for testing neurological reflexes. Hence, these instruments are not suitable for listening to breath sounds, reaffirming the stethoscope's role as the correct choice in assessing breathing.