How long should you check for breathing before assuming a patient is not breathing?

When assessing a patient for breathing, it is crucial to allow enough time to accurately determine if the patient is breathing or not. Checking for breathing for a duration of 10 seconds strikes a balance between efficiency and thoroughness.

During this time, you can observe the patient’s chest for rise and fall, listen for breath sounds, and feel for air movement from the mouth or nose. An adequate time frame ensures that you don’t mistake normal, but subtle breathing patterns as absence of breaths, which can happen if the assessment is rushed.

Assessing for shorter periods, such as 5 seconds, might lead to false conclusions, where you might miss slow or irregular breathing. Conversely, checking for longer than 10 seconds, such as 15 or 20 seconds, could unnecessarily delay critical interventions if the patient is indeed not breathing. Hence, 10 seconds is the appropriate standard for making an informed and prompt assessment in emergency situations.