Image courtesy of www.keithtuckerart.com.

Just so we are all on the same page about how the lungs actually work… the Khan academy has great videos on the basics.

For a simple summary of spirometry, and a few cases explaining the basic physiology of respiratory issues (asthma), nataliescasebook is a must-see.

And if you’re a video learner, check out Medical Reel’s compiled list of respiratory-focused videos, aimed at medical student level. Merck manuals also have some videos on respiratory procedures (more for gore value though, aimed at higher level of training).

To review the common causes of acute shortness of breath in the setting of the ED- check out St Emlyn’s blog page with links to plenty of lung-friendly resources – including a link to radiology masterclass for the chest X-rays.

To check out some respiratory & sleep medicine blog posts, check out the dedicated site pulmccm.org.

And to get your head around mechanical ventilation, try Dr John-Emile Kenny’s lectures from heart-lung.org. He uses animated schematics to explain the mechanics of ventilation.