In a study recently released in the journal BMJ Open Respiratory Research, not all doctors agreed on how to describe patients’ pre-recorded lung sounds.
Only slight to fair agreement was found for detailed descriptions of the adventitious sounds. In contrast, moderate to substantial agreement was reached for the combined categories of crackles and wheezes. For the wheezes, there was also moderate to substantial agreement when differentiating between inspiratory and expiratory sounds. The pediatricians did not agree better than the other doctors on the lung sounds from children. Overall, agreement on pediatric lung sounds was poorer than that on lung sounds from adults.
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