Defining the key clinical indicators for ineffective breathing pattern in paediatric patients: a meta-analysis of accuracy studies.

AIMS AND

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study was to identify the key clinical indicators of ineffective breathing pattern among paediatric patients.

BACKGROUND

When nurses perform clinical reasoning, certain characteristics represent the clinical indicators necessary to confirm the presence of a particular diagnosis. Some quantitative studies have reported the prevalence of ineffective breathing pattern in different samples of patients. However, these findings should be synthesised.

DESIGN

Meta-analysis of quantitative nursing studies.

METHODS

Studies were identified via systematic searches of CINAHL, LILACS, PubMed and Scopus using the key search terms 'ineffective', 'breathing' and 'pattern'. Additional quality-related inclusion criteria were gleaned from the Cochrane Collaboration for Systematic Reviews of Diagnostic Test Accuracy, the Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy and the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies. The pertinent results from each study were extracted and analysed via meta-analysis.

RESULTS

Six studies using paediatric populations met the inclusion criteria. Summary measures indicated that the following defining characteristics had the highest accuracy values for ineffective breathing pattern among children: bradypnoea, dyspnoea, nasal flaring, orthopnoea, tachypnoea and the use of accessory muscles to breathe.

CONCLUSION

This meta-analysis provides information regarding the accuracy of the clinical indicators of ineffective breathing pattern from studies sampling diverse paediatric populations.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nurses can better use clinical indicators to infer the presence of ineffective breathing pattern when they are aware of the most relevant defining characteristics. Nursing students and professionals can also improve their critical thinking abilities and diagnostic reasoning based on these findings.