There is a piece in the incentive spirometer called the piston that will rise as you breathe in and a piece that is called the indicator that is set at a goal number that your care team wants you to get to (“Using an Incentive Spirometer,” 2015). The Cleveland Clinic has broken down how to use an incentive spirometer in just a few short steps. I will verbally explain these steps to my patients, and also print out the sheet so they can have it as a reference. First, one should sit in a chair, on the edge of the bed or up as far as possible in bed while holding the incentive spirometer upright. I would then instruct him or her to place the mouthpiece in their mouth and to seal his or her lips tightly around it. Next, instruct the patient to take a slow deep breath in and state that the goal is to get the piston to reach the indicator where the goal level has been set. Encourage the patient to hold his or her breath for as long as they can and to then exhale slowly until the piston has gone back done to the bottom of the incentive spirometer. The patient should then rest for a couple seconds and repeat the steps from the beginning at least ten times. It is ideal that this routine is done every hour (“How to Use an Incentive Spirometer,” n.d.). If a patient is not an auditory learner but a visual learner, I will get my own incentive spirometer to demonstrate how to do it
There is a piece in the incentive spirometer called the piston that will rise as you breathe in and a piece that is called the indicator that is set at a goal number that your care team wants you to get to (“Using an Incentive Spirometer,” 2015). The Cleveland Clinic has broken down how to use an incentive spirometer in just a few short steps. I will verbally explain these steps to my patients, and also print out the sheet so they can have it as a reference. First, one should sit in a chair, on the edge of the bed or up as far as possible in bed while holding the incentive spirometer upright. I would then instruct him or her to place the mouthpiece in their mouth and to seal his or her lips tightly around it. Next, instruct the patient to take a slow deep breath in and state that the goal is to get the piston to reach the indicator where the goal level has been set. Encourage the patient to hold his or her breath for as long as they can and to then exhale slowly until the piston has gone back done to the bottom of the incentive spirometer. The patient should then rest for a couple seconds and repeat the steps from the beginning at least ten times. It is ideal that this routine is done every hour (“How to Use an Incentive Spirometer,” n.d.). If a patient is not an auditory learner but a visual learner, I will get my own incentive spirometer to demonstrate how to do it