First Aid Show Australia Daily Minute
Oct 8, 2026 · 2 min · 3 segments
When a patient is having difficulty breathing, respiratory rate is only one part of the picture. PASSRESPS provides first aiders with a structured approach to assessing respiratory status and…
The patient says, I can't breathe.
Before you reach for equipment, there is already a huge amount of information sitting right in front of you.
How are they positioned? How do they look? How do they speak? And how hard are they working just to breathe? That's where PassRESPs can help.
PassRESPs is a respiratory assessment mnemonic that gives you a systematic way to assess how well a patient is breathing.
PassRESPs stand for position, appearance, speech, sounds, respiratory rate and rhythm, effort, skin, and pulse.
And the last S is state of consciousness.
Okay, let's go through each one.
P, position.
Are they sitting upright, lying down, or leaning forward in a tripod position? A, appearance.
Do they look comfortable, anxious, exhausted, or seriously unwell? S is for speech.
Can they speak normally in full sentences or only short sentences or just a few words at a time? Sounds, listen for abnormal breathing sounds such as wheezing, stridor, snoring, or gurgling.
R, respiratory rate and rhythm.
Count their respirations in a minute and look at whether their breathing is regular or irregular.
E is for effort.
Are they working harder to breathe than normal? Can you see accessory muscle use, recession, or other signs of increased respiratory effort? S, skin.
Look at color, temperature, perhaps even moisture.
P is for pulse.
Check the rate, rhythm, and characteristics of the pulse.
And finally, S, state of consciousness.
Are they alert, confused, becoming drowsy, or unconscious? Now here's the clinical pearl.
Don't assess breathing just by rate alone.
A rate of 20 doesn't tell you whether the patient is speaking normally, becoming exhausted, or struggling for breath.
Pass RESPs remind you to look at the whole patient.
not just count their breaths.
The patient says, I can't breathe.
Before you reach for equipment, there is already a huge amount of information sitting right in front of you.
How are they positioned? How do they look? How do they speak? And how hard are they working just to breathe? That's where PassRESPs can help.
PassRESPs is a respiratory assessment mnemonic that gives you a systematic way to assess how well a patient is breathing.
PassRESPs stand for position, appearance, speech, sounds, respiratory rate and rhythm, effort, skin, and pulse.
And the last S is state of consciousness.
Okay, let's go through each one.
P, position.
Are they sitting upright, lying down, or leaning forward in a tripod position? A, appearance.
Do they look comfortable, anxious, exhausted, or seriously unwell? S is for speech.
Can they speak normally in full sentences or only short sentences or just a few words at a time? Sounds, listen for abnormal breathing sounds such as wheezing, stridor, snoring, or gurgling.
R, respiratory rate and rhythm.
Count their respirations in a minute and look at whether their breathing is regular or irregular.
E is for effort.
Are they working harder to breathe than normal? Can you see accessory muscle use, recession, or other signs of increased respiratory effort? S, skin.
Look at color, temperature, perhaps even moisture.
P is for pulse.
Check the rate, rhythm, and characteristics of the pulse.
And finally, S, state of consciousness.
Are they alert, confused, becoming drowsy, or unconscious? Now here's the clinical pearl.
Don't assess breathing just by rate alone.
A rate of 20 doesn't tell you whether the patient is speaking normally, becoming exhausted, or struggling for breath.
Pass RESPs remind you to look at the whole patient.
not just count their breaths.
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