Assessment of an alert and oriented 9-year-old child with a history of asthma reveals him to be breathing 20 times a minute with adequate chest rise and fall. You also note that he exhibits nasal flaring and has slight retractions of the intercostal muscles. His heart rate is 100 beats per minute and his blood pressure is 102/64 mmHg. On room air, he has a pulse oximeter reading of 98%. The EMT would recognize:

Critical thinking scenario: sally is providing patient education to an older patient, mrs. campo, who is having difficulty swallowing the large tablets needed for her medical condition. she tells you that two of the tablets have "deep lines" through the tablet and one has a very hard coat. mrs. campo wants to know if there is any way she can make swallowing the medicine easier. what instructions should sally give mrs. campo that will make her swallowing easier?